The High Court today questioned the legality of few sections of Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) rules that curtailed police’s authority to directly record corruption cases.

The court issued a rule asking the ACC and the government to explain in four weeks why the sections concerned of the Anti-Corruption Commission (Amendment) Rules-2019 should not be scrapped as the sections allegedly damaged the right to lodge corruption case with the police station.

Secretaries to the ministries of law and home and to the Jatiya Sangsad secretariat, chairman and secretary of the ACC, inspector general of police have been made respondents to the rule.  

The bench of Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Khandaker Diliruzzaman came up with rule following a writ petition jointly filed by Supreme Court lawyers Subir Nandi Das and Noshin Nowal on November 13 challenging the legality of the sections of the ACC rules.

According to the petition the ACC on June 20 this year issued a gazette notification amending the Anti-Corruption Commission Rules-2007.

It has been said in the amended rules that a citizen can lodge a graft allegation with a police station, but the police cannot record the allegation as a case.

The petitioners said in the petition that the police station will accept the allegation as a general diary (GD) and will send the GD to the ACC and then the ACC will record the GD as a case and conduct an enquiry into the case.

In the petition, they said the people’s right to lodge corruption case with the police station has been damaged due to the sections of the Anti-Corruption Commission (Amendment) Rules-2019 which is against the relevant sections of the constitution and Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).

The petitioners also prayed in the petition to the HC to scrap the sections of the Anti-Corruption Commission (Amendment) Rules-2019.

Advocate Abdul Kaiyum Khan and Advocate Momtaz Parvin appeared for the petitioners while Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan represented the ACC.