A High Court division bench pronounced the verdict on a writ petition filed on July 6, 2003 by Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (Blast). Challenging the act, the Blast petition said the law was framed without lawful authority.

The government will appeal against the verdict, LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan told newsmen last night.

Since the law was enacted two years ago, the coalition government constituted 39,786 Gram Sarkar units with the target to form 40,392 such non-elected bodies -- which neither serve as part of the administration or the local government.

All the Gram Sarkar units were formed through selection, comprising the supporters and activists of the ruling parties. In this year's budget, the government allocated Tk 60 crore for Gram Sarkars each of which has 13 members plus a headman and an adviser.

In the verdict, the court observed that legally Gram Sarkar was formed as a supporting organisation for the union parishad (UP) and not as part of administration or local government. This legal premise is self-contradictory and appears to be very dubious.

Again, Gram Sarkar is a non-elected body which is formed through selection of its members. But such a non-elected body has been imposed on an elected body like the union parishad, the court observed.

The concept is very noble, but its goals have to be achieved within the framework of the constitution, the court noted, adding, if the need for such a body is overwhelming, it could have been achieved under the Union Parishad Ordinance.

Since this act does not have the spirit of democracy, it contradicts the preamble and articles 7, 9, 11, 27, 28, 29, 59 and 60 of the constitution, says the verdict.

"The creation of Gram Sarkar is an insult to the concept of democracy and local government body under the constitution," eminent lawyer Dr Kamal Hossain earlier told the court on behalf of the petitioner.

"Such creation of a nominated body in the democratic polity thwarts the democratic government," he added.

Barrister Tanjib ul Alam assisted Dr Kamal while Additional Attorney General Fida M Kamal moved for the government.

The BNP government terms the Gram Sarkar the "lowest tier" of local government.

There is a four-tier local government structure in Bangladesh --the lowest is the UP followed by pourashava (municipality), upazila parishad and Zilla Parishad.

The upazila system, identified as a strong low tier system, had not seen any election since 1990. Sources said most ruling party lawmakers oppose the upazila system as that curtails the authority of the MPs in terms of local level development.

The MPs are interested in political gains through use of development funds which are supposed to be disbursed through the upazila system.

The BNP in its election manifesto had promised formation of the Gram Sarkar to materialise the dream of its founder late president Ziaur Rahman. However, Awami League opposed the idea saying that this will not deliver services to the grassroots people, instead it will form a partisan body at that level. Besides, the elected representatives of the UP had protested the concept.

The Gram Sarkar bodies were formed in 45 days between July 1 and August 14 of 2003.

There has been widespread allegation of irregularities at the level of formation of the Gram Sarkar units. It was alleged that the government did not maintain the appointment criterion. For instance, while appointing a member in the freedom fighter's quota, the government in many cases appointed anti-liberation elements.