“He [Sohel Taj] in person submitted the resignation letter to the Speaker at the latter's office around 6:30pm today [yesterday]. And the Speaker accepted the resignation,” Joynal Abedin, personal secretary to the Speaker, told The Daily Star yesterday.
His resignation now puts an end to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's efforts to keep him as a state minister without portfolio since his resignation from the cabinet on May 31, 2009.
Under Article 58 (1) (b) of the constitution, Taj's resignation as an MP disqualifies him from continuing as a state minister without portfolio.
Sohel Taj, son of Tajuddin Ahmad, the nation's prime minister at the head of the Mujibnagar government during the War of Liberation in 1971, stepped down as state minister for home following reported interference in his work.
But government documents continued to mention him as a state minister and Hasina on April 19 said she had not "accepted" his resignation.
Legal experts, however, say there is no need for the prime minister to accept the resignation letter of a minister or a junior minister.
Hasina's announcement apparently prompted Sohel Taj, who was elected MP on the ruling Awami League ticket from Gazipur-4 constituency at the last parliamentary polls, to resign from parliament on April 23 this year.
He did not cite any reason for his resignation as lawmaker but had issued an open letter to the people of his constituency, saying he had taken the decision after “much thought”.
Speaker Abdul Hamid, however, on May 9 declined to "accept" the resignation, claiming Sohel did not follow constitutional provisions and rules of procedure of the House in submitting the resignation letter.
Clarifying his decision, he said Sohel Taj, who was then in the US, did not write the letter in his own hand; it rather was typed up. Also, he did not submit the letter in person and it did not contain the phrase "willing to resign," which is mandatory under Article 67 of the constitution.
Sohel Taj had to come to Bangladesh to submit in person his resignation letter to the Speaker if he desired to quit, Hamid added.
The reasons the Speaker had cited to justify his decision, however, were not in conformity with a High Court verdict.
According to a 1995 HC judgment, the constitution does not have any provision authorising the Speaker to accept or reject a resignation letter submitted by an MP.
On the practice of a submission of a resignation letter by a lawmaker in person, the HC said the letter "need not be written by the lawmaker concerned; it is sufficient if it is signed by him or her."
However, Sohel Taj finally came to Bangladesh from the US and tendered the resignation letter to the Speaker yesterday evening, putting an end to the long drama over his resignation from parliament and also from Hasina's cabinet.
Contacted by The Daily Star over telephone, a senior official in the parliament secretariat last night said the secretariat will today publish a gazette notification declaring vacant Sohel Taj's seat in the House. The Speaker may also inform parliament today about the resignation.
A copy of the gazette notification will be sent to the Election Commission that will hold by-election to Gazipur-4 constituency within next 90 days.
Meanwhile, after tendering his resignation to the Speaker, Sohel Taj met Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her official residence around 9:30 pm.
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