Abstract

The Constitution (Eighth Amendment) Act, 1988 (Act No. XXX of 1988) established six permanent benches of the High Court Division in different divisions of Bangladesh. Question arose whether our constitutional scheme allows such decentralization of the Apex Court. Our Apex Court finally answered that the Constitution 8^th Amendment Act is violative of the doctrine of Basic Structure of the Constitution. More specifically, it was settled that the unitary character of the higher judiciary is also a basic structure of the Constitution. The doctrine of Basic Structure of the Constitution has been introduced by this judgment for the first time in our jurisdiction. Supremacy of the Constitution and the unitary character of the Supreme Court are declared as the Basic Structure of the Constitution. Our Apex Court also categorized power of the legislature as amending power and constituent power and finally concluded that the Basic Structure of the Constitution cannot be altered by way applying amending power of the Constitution. The outcome of this judgment was heavily influenced by the Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala, reported in (1973) 4 SCC 225. Actually, the lawyers and judges were inspired by the jurisprudence established by the Supreme Court of India. Subsequently, almost in all constitutional cases, our Apex Court applied the doctrine of basic structure for the purpose of determining the constitutionality of the