Dhaka: In a significant ruling, Bangladesh's High Court has said that no person can hold two constitutional offices simultaneously, after declaring as "illegal" the appointment of former chief election commissioner M A Aziz.

"No person can hold two constitutional offices simultaneously," the bench comprising judges ABM Khairul Haque and Justice Syed Ziaul Karim said in its verdict on a public interest litigation filed in 2005 challenging the appointment of Aziz as CEC while he held the post of a Supreme Court judge.

The court also observed that no sitting judge of the Supreme Court should hold any other constitutional office or any other office of profit in the service of the state for the sake of independence and impartiality.

Aziz was appointed the chief election commissioner on May 23, 2005, during the rule of the previous Khaleda Zia Government. He was forced to quit in January by the interim government amid protests by opposition led by Shiekh Hasina's Awami League which accused him of favouring Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its allies.

Legal experts says the judgment would prevent the government from allowing any favoured person to hold two constitutional offices concurrently.

Source : PTI