He never initiated any significant step to uphold the dignity of the House and often remained silent against contravention of the parliamentary affairs to some extent.

Being the head of a state organ, Jatiya Sangsad (JS), Sircar seems to have failed to play his role effectively in upholding the significance of his position as the speaker, a widely viewed symbol of power and authority of the House.

Sircar's frequent rulings, indifference towards the main opposition, reluctance to protect the lawmakers' right in some cases, imposing ban on electronic media inside the parliament complex, put the speaker's integrity into question.

He was also accused of violating the constitution by none other than his deputy. Even the ruling BNP lawmakers, who had elected him speaker, were irked by his fragile role in protecting their rights and accused him of making the parliamentary body "dysfunctional". They dubbed him a "messenger" for carrying out the orders of the executive.

When the law, justice and parliamentary affairs minister on February 3 this year issued a letter, reining in the ruling party lawmakers' right to place private members' bills in parliament, the speaker blatantly passed the letter to the lawmakers instead of protecting their rights.

The lawmakers have long been demanding that the right be restored to them, but Sircar rejected the appeal and advised them to consult the prime minister and the law minister about the matter.

"It is humiliating for parliament. Himself being the head of parliament, [the speaker] has allowed the executive to interfere in the parliamentary affairs," ruling BNP lawmaker Abu Hena said at a meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on private members' bills and resolutions on April 9 this year.

On the law ministry decision, the speaker on March 12 this year told The Daily Star, "Due to the lack of consultation, the lawmakers often move to place bills that cause embarrassment to the government."

Infringing media rights, Sircar stuck to his position by not allowing the private television channels inside the parliament building for coverage of parliamentary proceedings or any briefing of the main opposition party.

The speaker has repeatedly defended this stand on security grounds, a lame excuse that has become a laughing stock as he allows the same private TV channels to cover his own media briefing at his office inside the JS.

Law Minister Moudud Ahmed at a discussion this month said he, however, is in favour of allowing the TV channels to cover the parliamentary proceedings.

Sircar himself presided over the House during the last four years, not letting the deputy speaker or any member of the panel of chairmen nominated at the beginning of each session to do the job.

However, once in 2003, the speaker allowed a member from the panel of chairmen to preside over the House, bypassing the deputy speaker although he was present in the parliament at that time.

Deputy Speaker Akhtar Hamid Siddiqui accused the speaker of violating the constitution and the JS rules of procedure, according to which, members of the panel of chairman are entitled to preside over the House only in absence of both the speaker and the deputy speaker.

Sircar, also a lawmaker of the ruling BNP, issued over one hundred rulings on different issues during the last four years although some of the issues were not related to parliament. The speaker declared illegal a parliamentary team formed by the main opposition Awami League (AL), comprising lawmakers, to probe one such incident.

The speaker in a ruling this year also declared illegal the lawyers' movement on the Supreme Court premises, prompting the agitating lawyers to cancel his membership from the Supreme Court Bar Association last May.

Sircar has set a record by running the House without ensuring the quorum and presenting a "novel" explanation on formation of quorum.

Entering the House, Sircar never waits for ensuring the presence of 60 lawmakers to form the quorum. The scene, however, was different in the seventh parliament. The then deputy speaker, who presided over most sessions, used to sit in silence, giving scopes for the formation of the quorum.

Contradicting the experts' views on quorum, Jamiruddin Sircar's explanation maintains that it is "not necessary" to ensure the quorum at the beginning of the session.

The law minister disagreed with the explanation.

Sircar could have claimed himself successful as a host in holding 49 conferences of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association in Dhaka in 2003 only if he could avoid some controversies.

At the beginning of the preparatory works for the conferences, the speaker included two political secretaries to the prime minister in the steering committee of the conference. This sparked severe criticism as the two secretaries were not lawmakers. The main opposition repeatedly demanded exclusion of the two, but the speaker paid no heed.

The secretaries were, however, finally excluded from the committee following a PM directive.

The speaker has not also disclosed the probe report on the national anthem scandal of the inaugural function of the conference.

The speaker also did not waste chances to appreciate the initiatives of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's government. On several occasions, he referred to his past association with the BNP, reminding the PM that he was education minister of the BNP government during 1991-1996. Moreover, he often addressed Khaleda Zia "madam" in the House instead of an official term.

Sircar's indifference towards the main opposition lawmakers was always noticeable during these four years.

He did not take any step when AL lawmaker Ahsanullah Master was gunned down at Gazipur.

His remark, following the assassination of former finance minister and AL lawmaker Shah AMS Kibria, that he did not know the incident on the day of killing and learnt it from newspapers the next morning generated huge criticism.

The speaker did not initiate any significant step to bring the main opposition back to the House. His calls remained limited only to asking the AL lawmakers to join the House in his welcome and winding up speeches in every session.

In the seventh parliament, on the other hand, the then speaker had taken steps to bring the then main opposition in parliament and sent letter to the then opposition leader in this regard.

Jamiruddin Sircar gave the same reasons for rejecting over one thousand notices on different vital issues submitted for discussion by the opposition lawmakers as the treasury bench did not agree to hold the discussions.

His decision was questioned when he allowed a general discussion on the August 21 grenade attack on an AL rally last year on the ground that the matter is sub judice, rejecting the main opposition's demand for discussion adjourning other businesses of the House.

On strengthening the parliamentary standing committee system, the speaker can claim some success for taking a significant step to hold a series of dialogues with the committee chiefs and secretaries of different ministries.

The speaker, however, failed to continue with the initiative as the government high-ups reacted sharply over the dialogues, where the committee chiefs accused the ministers and government senior officials of making the committee system dysfunctional by not providing required documents.

The speaker had to stop the move after holding one discussion on March 1 this year.

During the last four years, the speaker along with his deputy rushed to the Prime Minister's Office on several occasions, ignoring the norms of the parliamentary system of governance.

Jamiruddin Sircar, however, is lucky enough as the speaker of the House as he became the acting president for 73 days following the removal of Prof Badruddoza Chowdhury from presidency in 2002.