2016 Global Review of Constitutional Law

measure of temporary relief to the slum
dwellers who have no place to call home.
In another lingering proceeding lodged by
an environmental organization, the HCD
on June 16 ordered the relocation of some
154 tanneries from the City of Dhaka to a
nearby suburb, Savar. Both divisions of the
Supreme Court were quite tough on the need
to move these polluting industries out, and
saddled a heavy compensation in the event
of default. The industry owners resorted to
many tactics to delay such relocation. When
the government in compliance with the court
order cut off utility services to the tanneries,
they finally moved to the designated suburban
industrial zone. This instance of judicial
activism was surely for the preservation of
the environment and public health. An unintended
consequence, however, was that
some 50,000 workers lost their jobs at least
for months. The court, however, had the issue
of their protection in mind, though. It
first lessened and then waived the amount
of fine for the default of the tannery owners,
and ordered redirecting of such amounts to
the welfare and rehabilitation of the workers
instead. 15
In 2016, the Bangladeshi higher judiciary
dealt with the extremely complex issue of
the constitutionality of Islam’s state religion
status. As said, the court’s decision to not decide
such issues as state religion or the principle
of secularism was unprincipled, and
arguably reveals its institutional fragility to
an external volatile environment. And, when
judged in the backdrop of current unstable
constitutionalism, the court’s decisions in
the areas of personal liberty, rights of the
most hapless sections of the people in society,
and multi-pronged environmental issues,
its activism and the role in 2016 seem pragmatic
and promising.
CONCLUSION
As the above judgments of the Bangladeshi
Supreme Court in 2016 show, the court remained
an important institution of constitutional
politics and governance. The kind of
tension that was seen between the organs of
the State is in fact inevitable in a democracy.
It however remains to be seen how the apex
court of the country manages to negotiate,
shape, and decide the unresolved issues in
the future in regard to the principle of judicial
independence and the process of removing
judges. Accordingly, a challenging time
seems to lie ahead for the court vis-à-vis the
issue of legality of an original provision of
the Constitution concerning the removal of
judges. It will have to strike a delicate balance
between institutional legitimacy and
capacity and the higher normativity of the
founding constitutional principles.
15
A report is available at: http://www.theindependentbd.com/arcprint/details/83525/2017-03-03, and http://www.thedailystar.net/city/doe-collect-tk-1cr-14-industries-damaging-buriganga-1277317
(retrieved on April 10, 2017).
2016 Global Review of Constitutional Law | 21