Staff Reporter :
The National Consensus Commission is introducing major revisions to the draft of the July National Charter, incorporating feedback from political parties and granting the document unprecedented legal authority.
The new consolidated draft states that the Charter, formulated as an expression of the “universal will of the people,” will take precedence over all existing laws or court rulings, with special constitutional provisions ensuring its supremacy.
According to commission sources, the draft explicitly states that if any word, clause, or principle of the Charter conflicts with the current Constitution or any other law, the Charter will prevail. It also proposes that the validity of the Charter cannot be challenged in any court of law.
The commitment section of the draft is still under legal review. On Thursday, the Commission’s chair and Chief Adviser of the interim government,
Professor Muhammad Yunus, is expected to meet with commission members to discuss the revisions. After necessary additions and adjustments, the updated draft is scheduled to be sent to political parties by Friday.
The interim government, which came to power through a mass uprising, has embarked on a sweeping reform agenda.
In the first phase, six reform commissions produced 82 reform proposals, which have since been endorsed through political consensus and incorporated into the July National Charter. On July 29, the Commission circulated the initial draft among political parties, collected their feedback, and prepared the consolidated version now under review.
The Charter is divided into three sections: background, a list of reform proposals on which consensus and decisions have been reached, and a set of specific commitments for implementation. The consolidated draft also records which proposals have dissenting opinions.
In the initial draft, political parties were to pledge implementation of the reforms within two years of forming the next elected government. While the BNP agreed to this timeline, Jamaat-e-Islami, the National Citizens’ Party (NCP), and several others objected, calling instead for the Charter to be placed within a binding legal framework with a clearly defined implementation process.
The new draft drops the two-year commitment, which the Commission now describes as having been a “template” in the first draft.
Professor Ali Riaz, Vice-Chair of the Commission, told the media on Wednesday, “We have incorporated as much of the parties’ feedback as possible into the consolidated draft of the July National Charter. There have been changes, additions, and expansions to the original text, and we are now reviewing finer points. We hope to finalize the document by Thursday so that it can be sent to the parties by Friday morning.
