The LawCommission that turns 12 today is being unfairly blamed for failing to modernise the laws and judicial system of the country due to the lack of political will of subsequent governments.

Operating without a chairman and required manpower, the Law Commission has so far drafted as many as 86 recommendations since its establishment on September 9, 1996, for legal amendments. However, except for only three, all of its recommendations were brushed aside as those were not in favour of the governments

The Law Commission sent its recommendations to the government but never received any response We do not know why the governments did not consider the recommendations. We do not even know if anyone has actually gone through them," said an official of the commission.

The position of the commission's chairman has remained vacant since December 5. 2007, when the then chairman Justice Mustafa Kamal's term expired. Another member of the commission retired on February 22 but nobody bothered to fill the position.

The commission's lone remaining member Justice Md Sirajul Islam is currently acting as its chairman.

Apart from the two key positions, 10 of the 13 official positions of the I aw Commission, including those of a chief research officer, two senior research officers and two translation officers, have remained vacant for the past nine months.

The Law Commission Amendment Act 2001 made it mandatory for parliament to place a report on implementation of the Law Commission's recommendations in its first session of every year. Even that was not followed, sources said, adding that the utter disregard for the law sprang from a lack of political will.

According to the sources, only three or four recommendations, including the Arbitration Act, were adopted during the rule of Awami League government. But the BNP-led four-party alliance government completelydisregarded the recommendations while passing 185 laws during its tenure.

An official of the commission said the Law Commission has drafted some important laws, including the Right to Information Act and the Bangladesh Citizenship Act, and the present caretaker government has accepted parts of the recommendations.

While talking to The Daily Star, a few legal experts recently stressed the need for making the Law Commission effective through enacting a new law.

Making the government bound to implement the Law Commission's recommendations will turn the commission effective and it can then play important role in helping modernise the laws and judicial system, theysaid.

A few of them said the government should publish a white paper on the functions of the Law Commission and the resources spent for it in the last 12 years. The government should also explain why hardly any of the commission's recommendations were acted upon during this long period since a handsome amount of public money was spent for the commission in this period.

Former vice-chairman of Bangladesh Bar Council barrister M Amir-Ul Islam said the government should empower the Law Commission by enacting a new law.

"The Law Commission is a law oriented researching institution. A congenial environment should be created and a handsome budget should be fixed for the Law Commission for conducting research with a view to updating the laws," he said National and international legal experts should also be appointed to make the commission effective and important. he added.

Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President barrister Shafique Ahmed said there is no logic of running such an almost ineffective institution like the I aw Commission.

He said there have been errors in exercising the law as the past

governments implemented Vety few of the commission's recommendations.

Replying to a question, barrister Shafique said the previous governments did not consider the commission's recommendations as those were not in their favour.

Dr Shahdeen Malik said the past governments had no plan for turning the Law Commission into an effective organisation.

"Firstly, our governments never had any legislative policy or plan about the laws they wanted to enact in the next two or three years. Secondly, without permanent staff and absence of training and research skill for the temporary' staff, the Law Commission has virtually become a retired judges' club,"hesaid.

"The bad practice of appointing retired elderly judges or persons was not helpful for making the commission effective. Under the Law Commission Act 1996, the government can easily appoint experts and consultants to revitalise the Law Commission," he said.

Most of the recent laws were framed primarily to serve the ruling parties’ political purposes, sources said. "But whether those served the interest of the country' is something the commission should look into," theysaid.

For instance, the AntiCorruption Commission (ACC) Act vWs framed under public p're’ssuYe. After the ACC was formed in 2004, it could not be made effective until February 2007 because the act had been grossly flawed. To make the ACC effective, the current caretaker government had to amend the act.