Existing Appointment Procedures
Attorney-General (AG): The President shall appoint a person who is qualified to be appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court to be Attorney-General for Bangladesh (Article 64.1).

Ombudsman: Parliament may, by law, provide for the establishment of the office of Ombudsman (Article 77.1).

Judges in the Supreme Court: Article 95. (1) The Chief Justice and other Judges shall be appointed by the President. (2) A person shall not be qualified for appointment as a Judge unless he is a citizen of Bangladesh and- (a) has, for not less than ten years, been an advocate of the Supreme Court; or (b) has, for not less than ten years, held judicial office in the territory of Bangladesh; or (c) has such other qualifications as may be prescribed by law for appointment as a Judge of the Supreme Court.

Election Commission: Article 118. (1)....the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (if any) shall, subject to the provisions of any law made in that behalf, be made by the President. (2) When the Election Commission consists of more than one person, the Chief Election Commissioner shall act as the chairman thereof...... and- ...(b) any other Election Commissioner shall, on ceasing to hold office as such, be eligible for appointment as Chief Election Commissioner...

Comptroller and Auditor-General:Article 127. (1)... there shall be a Comptroller and Auditor-General of Bangladesh... who shall be appointed by the President.

Public Service Commission: The chairman and other members of each Public Service Commission shall be appointed by the President. Provided that not less than one-half of the members of a Commission shall be persons who have held office for twenty years or more in the service of any government which has at any time functioned within the territory of Bangladesh (Article 138.1).

Few Observations
No Transparent Procedure: Existing appointment procedure absolutely lack of transparency, accountability and credibility. No legal provision is yet made on the procedure of selection and appointment in Constitutional bodies. The whole process is totally controlled by the Chief Executive/Prime Minister's Office. People never know how persons are being selected and appointed in constitutional bodies. This has opened frontiers of opportunities for politicisation of the Constitutional bodies greatly.

In-adequate Qualification and Eligibility Criteria: Existing qualification and eligibility criteria are found as inadequate for selection of competent persons. Less competent, corrupt, inefficient, communal, partisan and even mentally unsound persons have got appointment in the Constitutional body over the years.

Dependence on Government's Will: Under the present procedure, appointments in the Constitutional bodies absolutely depend on the will of the Chief Executive of the country.

Heaven for Partisans: Successive ruling parities have abused Constitutional drawbacks, and appointed partisan persons and less competent persons, and thereby have made all Constitutional bodies structurally, functionally and operationally dysfunctional.

Subsequent Impacts * Election Commission (EC) has never been considered as credible body in Bangladesh. The credibility of this body has been greatly destroyed by the regimes in 80s and 90s. The worst ever situation is observed by people during October to December 2006. The nation had to sacrifice dozens of valuable lives in the bloodiest ever street violence for resignation of ECs and CECs.

* Till March 2007, PSC was almost a heaven/dumping ground for partisans. Almost all the successive governments have used PSC as an institute for partisan appointment of Chairman/Members and BCS Cadres, and also kept it structurally, institutionally and operationally dysfunctional. Few of them did not dare to take bribe from BCS examinees. All retired four Chairmen of PSC (1991-2006) were directly connected with professional bodies of ruling parties. Two of them were awarded prestigious position in the country allegedly because of their contribution to the party.

* Attorney General (AG) has also been politicised by the successive ruling parities. The controversial role of AG just during the declaration of verdict of a crucial case filed against the validation of the President as Chief Adviser of Caretaker Government recently, is seen as one of the worst examples of partisan behaviour of AG in the history of Highest Judiciary in Bangladesh. AG was seen as the chief law officer of ruling party rather than "guardian of the pubic interest".

* Partisan appointment of judges in the Judiciary has become a common matter since independence, and reached its worst since 2001. The credibility of the Chief Justice was endangered due to controversial role in the mid 80s and 90s. Taking favour by judges and giving partisan or controversial verdicts have allegedly happened over the years.

* The CAG is seen as fulcrum of a country's good governance. But unfortunately CAG office is also known to people as heaven for bribe and corrupt persons to a great extent. In spite of working as watchdog over financial integrity and credibility of government offices, the CAG allegedly worked for saving interest of the corrupt civil servants of the republic.

* For ensuring public confidence in the public service institutions/bodies in Bangladesh, no ruling parity has yet taken effective initiative for Ombudsman.

Policy Recommendations
Transparent and Credible Appointment Procedure: To make the Constitutional bodies really independent, impartial, informed, just, accountable and credible, the selection and appointment procedure must be made specific, effective, transparent and credible. The ways in which persons are appointed and subsequently promoted are crucial to the independence and affectivity of Constitutional bodies. Public must be confident that appointments are made purely on merit and competency, not for partisan connection with the ruling parity.

Adequate Qualification and Eligibility Criteria: Reputed persons with proven undisputed integrity, credibility, appropriate professional, training and excellence and commitment, moral courage, ability, non-partisan affiliation, strong personality, required experiences, sound health and proven non-communal attitude etc. should be considered.

Reforming Constitution: As per need of the new Millennium, Articles dedicated to the constitutional bodies should be made specific, transparent, functional and credible with due emphasis. Experiences of India, Pakistan and South Africa may be considered here. Necessary protective mandates should be added so that Constitutional bodies can't be terned into partisan institutions.

Search Committee for Constitutional Bodies (SCCB): SCCB may be formed for initial selection of the suitable persons for constitutional bodies. For a non-partisan, independent, effective and credible SCCB, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Ministry of Establishment (PSCME) may determine the size, type of persons suitable for SCCB, procedures of operations, scope and functions. However, SCCB will be initially responsible for preparing a short list of the suitable persons for relevant Constitutional bodies and then send to the Parliament for ratification and approval. SCCB also publishes the short listed names in electronic and print media for public opinion. It must have countermeasures so that SCCB can't be a heaven/dumping ground for partisans.

Parliamentary Standing Committee on Ministry of Establishment (PSCME): PSCME should be given responsibility for assessing the credibility of the proposed persons. PSCME may take help from Anti-Corruption Commission. After completion of ratification, PSCME will take initiative to take approval from the Parliament and send the approved names to the President for approval. For an effective and credible PSCME effective measures should be taken.

Appointing Authority: Alike South Africa, the parliament should be given power to ratification and subsequent approval of the persons for constitutional bodies.

Will of Government: The credible role of the Constitutional bodies fundamentally depends upon will of the ruling party. So, to ensure independent, effective, accountable, functional and credible Constitutional bodies there must be credible and people friendly government in power.

The constitutional bodies are the pillars of good governance for a country. Therefore, it is the right time for taking necessary and effective initiatives to make the Constitutional bodies really independent, effective and credible. The present government may consider the above recommendations with due emphasis.

Md. Rezaul Karim is a researcher, rezamilir@yahoo.co.uk