OURS is a democratic country.

That's precisely why democracy has been embodied as one of the state principles in the Constitution of Bangladesh. In fact, our democratic aspirations played a major role in our Liberation War, leading to the independence of the country.

The original Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh truly reflected these aspirations of the citizens of the country. This is manifest in many provisions of the Constitution. One of these provisions is Article 59. Ironically enough, some of the finest provisions of the original Constitution have been amended and re-amended while Article 59 has managed to stay intact, surviving the test of time. For the purposes of driving home the contention of the point, let's take a look at this particular Article of our Constitution.

Article 59: (1) Local government in every administrative unit of the Republic shall be entrusted to bodies, composed of persons elected in accordance with law.

(2) Everybody such as referred to in clause (1) shall, subject to this Constitution and any other law, perform within the appropriate administrative unit such functions as shall be prescribed by Act of Parliament; which may include functions relating to:

(a) administration and the work of public officers;

(b) the maintenance of public order;

(c) the preparation and implementation of plans relating to public services and economic development.

Even a cursory reading of this Article suggests that the concept of local government has been duly recognised in our Constitution. That leads one to the establishment and functioning of the

Union Councils, Upazila Councils and the District Councils. It is common knowledge that though the Union Councils and the Upazila Councils are in place and doing a seemingly good job, District Councils have a very different story to tell. Besides, the Upazila Councils are plagued by lack of power vis-^-vis jurisdiction, coupled with conflicts between the chairmen and the Upazila Nirbahi Officers. Secondly, the Constitution contemplates elected representatives of the people manning the offices of all tiers of the local government. The Constitution by no means contemplates selected or nominated or hand-picked people to run the show. It is, in fact, a mandatory

into two, styling them as Dhaka South and Dhaka North, allegedly violating Article 5 of the Constitution, elections to the same were long overdue. Hence, bureaucrats, instead of elected representatives, were managing the day to day affairs of the corporation (s).

On top of it all, elections to the Hill District Councils in the Chittagong Hill Tracts have not been held for over two decades. The tenure of the first Local Government Councils turned Hill District Councils elected in 1989 has expired, and nominated councils have been in charge since then. There have been intermittent outcries for elections to be held, but in vain. For long, a section of the tribal leaders have insisted on

provision of the Constitution, as evidenced by the word shall in the construction of the Article, implying that no exceptions can be made here. Mention may, in this connection, be made to the celebrated judgment pronounced by the Supreme Court of Bangladesh in the case of Kudrat Elahi Panir Vs. Bangladesh. But, as we are all aware, this is not the case with the District Councils, as these are now being run by nominated, hand-picked and unelected persons loyal not to the people but to the government of the day. The scenario is just the same with the City Corporations. Take, for instance, the case of the Dhaka City Corporation. While the AL-led government split Dhaka up

drawing up a separate voters' list in tune with the Peace Accord signed in 1997. The problem is that the relevant provision of the Peace Accord will prevent Bangalis with no recorded land property in the CHT from being registered as voters. One has to disagree with the essence and import of the provision, as it is in clear violation of Article 122 of the Constitution, wherein the qualifications for registration as voters have been prescribed. Article 122 doesn't set having recorded land property as a pre-condition for registration as voters, while the Peace Accord does. Moreover, a provision contained in any law, rules, regulation, treaty or accord can't be considered superior to the

Constitution, enjoying the status of the supreme law of the land. As a matter of fact, this provision has already been declared ultra vires to the Constitution by the Honourable High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh by way of the celebrated judgment in the case of Mohammad Badiuzzaman and Another Vs. Bangladesh and Another. The government of Bangladesh was supposed to adopt all the persuasive and legal measures to pave the way for the preparation of the voters' list meant for the elections to the Hill District Councils long ago. Contrarily, what the successive governments have gone for is the nomination of councils one after the other. Added to that is another administrative anomaly. The government has amended the Hill District Council Acts of 1989, thereby giving permanency to the inequitable process of nominating councils and also increasing the number of nominated members of the Councils from four to fifteen.

Nominated plus unelected persons put-in-charge of running the District Councils have understandably failed to live up to the expectations of the citizenry at large. For one thing, they are not at all accountable to the voters or citizens or the people. Thus there is scope for rampant corruption. They apparently don't actually have to think about the preparation and implementation of plans to ensure public services and economic development in the respective areas, as envisaged per Article 59 of the Constitution.

All these present a chaotic scenario in terms of the repeated and prolonged violations of the sacred Constitution, resulting in the infringement of democracy, thereby causing a blow to our democratic aspirations and ideals.

The writer is an advocate practising at the District and Sessions Judge's Court, Cox’s Bazar.