A compilation taking us back to the original spirit

Law Book Review

A compilation taking us back to the original spirit

M. Jashim Ali Chowdhury

Making the Constitution of Bangladesh Barrister Md. Abdul Halim Publisher: CCB Foundation, Dhaka Price Shown: Tk. 250/-

Barrister Halim is a popular writer of law books with around 30 publications to his credit. As an author he came to light through his first scholarly endeavor Constitution, Constitutional Law and Politics: Bangladesh Perspective which enjoyed a sort of monopoly in the study of Constitutional Law of Bangladesh over the last decade. Since then he is writing relentlessly on various issues. The present one under review, Making the Constitution of Bangladesh, is the latest of his efforts.

Divided into five chapters, Chapter 1 (pp 9-38) of the compilation contains a short commentary on the history of constitution making which is an abridged reproduction of some of his thoughts we already read in Constitution, Constitutional Law and Politics: Bangladesh Perspective. The extracts from Abul Fazl Huq's Constitution Making in Bangladesh published in the Pacific Affaires Journal (Vol 46, No 1, Spring, 1973) of University of British Columbia, available in JSTOR's online catalogue will throw light on the constitution making from an altogether different point of view. A short note on the Declaration of Independence (p. 11) reflects his own assessment of the issue.

Chapter 2 (pp 39-58) reproduces some pre-constitutional instruments like the Proclamation of Independence, Laws Continuance Enforcement Order, the Provisional Constitution of 1972 etc. Chapter 3 (pp 59-86) accommodates the report of the Constitution Drafting Committee to the Constituent Assembly. This document has special significance to the new generation readers of the constitutional history. Chapter 4 (pp 87-200) reprints the Draft Constitution proposed by the drafting committee to the Assembly and lastly Chapter 5 (pp 201-304) reprints the original constitution of 1972.

I may not agree with some of the 'weaknesses and drawbacks' in the constitution making that the author finds, yet I acknowledge the greater purpose the compilation would serve specially to the post-liberation generation in taking them back to the root of the original spirit enlightening our nationhood. This handy compilation would serve the purpose of researchers working on our constitutional history.

The reviewer is Lecturer, Department of Law, University of Chittagong.