The rule came after Supreme Court lawyers Abdul Momen Chowdhury, KM Zabir and Zahrul Islam filed a writ petition about the urgency of forming the commission, a key election pledge of the ruling four-party alliance.

A Division Bench of the HC asked the law secretary and secretary of the Parliament Secretariat to submit their reply in eight weeks.

The petitioners said establishment of a human rights commission is indispensable for social, economic and political rights and for administration of justice. It is needed also to prevent corruption and alleviate poverty, they stressed.

"....the hapless people of Bangladesh are groaning in injustice and the sound of their cry should reach an institution for doing justice, like human rights commission," reads the petition. Dictatorship and tyranny have not ended and needed to be contained by such a commission, the petition said.

"....leaders of the country are guarded at the cost of the people and their valuable lives get all sorts of protection but the people are exposed to liquidation and ruination," it added, emphasising the need for a human rights commission for protecting them.

Recalling that setting up of a human rights commission was a major election pledge of the ruling BNP, the petitioners said people voted for them trusting their commitment. It is imperative upon the respondents to do this to honour the commitment, they said.

According to sources, a draft bill on National Human Rights Commission, prepared in 2003, is gathering dust at the Cabinet Division.

The government formed a cabinet committee headed by the law minister on December 10, 2001 to prepare the draft bill.

After a series of meetings, the committee finalised the draft and sent it to the Cabinet Division on January 23, 2003. It was placed at the cabinet meeting on January 29 the same year. The cabinet however sent the bill back to the law ministry for further scrutiny. Since then it is lying at the ministry.

Law Minister Moudud Ahmed on September 19 last year said at an international conference that differences of opinion among ministers were blocking efforts to establish a human rights commission. "I had great difficulty convincing my cabinet colleagues about the commission, which is now under consideration of the cabinet."

He also said, "We are committed to setting up the commission. I hope I will be able to convince my cabinet colleagues about its necessity."

Two days later, Moudud said at a press conference the government would set up the commission before expiry of its tenure. "We are pledge-bound to the countrymen to set up a human rights commission and we will do it as soon as possible," he said.