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The caretaker government of Bangladesh
বাংলাদেশের তত্ত্বাবধায়ক সরকার
Seal of the Chief Advisor
Standard of the Chief Adviser
Style	His Excellency (Diplomatic) Honourable Chief Advisor (Informal) Honourable (Official)
Status	Active
Member of	Cabinet
Residence	Prime Minister's Office
Appointer	Statutory: President of Bangladesh
Term length	3 months or higher
Formation	26 March 1996; 28 years ago (1996-03-26)
First holder	Shahabuddin Ahmed (1991)

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A caretaker government of Bangladesh, (Bengali: বাংলাদেশের তত্ত্বাবধায়ক সরকার) is an unelected interim government in Bangladesh tasked with organizing free and fair general elections. The Chief Adviser, the head of government in lieu of the Prime Minister, is appointed by the President. The Chief Advisor appoints other advisers, who act as ministers. The appointments are intended to be nonpartisan.

The caretaker government is only permitted to make necessary policy decisions, and may not contest the elections.

In late-1990, violent pro-democracy unrest led General Hussain Muhammad Ershad to resign as president. A coalition of political parties appointed Chief Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed as acting president to lead a interim government. The transitional government was replaced after the 1991 general election.

In 1996, the 13th amendment to the Constitution of Bangladesh formalized the practice of nonpartisan interim ("caretaker") governments.

In late-2006, President Iajuddin Ahmed formed a caretaker government. Chief Justice K.M. Hasan was unable to fill the role of Chief Advisor; according to the Awami League, the outgoing government — controlled by Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) — appointed Hasan as Chief Justice to influence the caretaker government. The dispute resulted in violent unrest and the cancellation of the January 2007 general election.

Fakhruddin Ahmed formed a new caretaker government in January 2007 supported by the Bangladesh Armed Forces. The caretaker government maintained a limited state of emergency while pursuing Awami and BNP members for corruption. The caretaker government was replaced after the 2008 general election, having exceeded the constitutionally-mandated term limit of 120-days.

In 2011, the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Awami League-led government abolished caretaker governments with the 15th constitutional amendment.^[1] This amendment was opposed by the BNP and other parties.^[2] According to Hasina, the courts could dissolve parliament.^[3] According to Ershad in 2012, there was popular support for caretaker governments.^[4]

In 2024, after the resignation of Sheikh Hasina as the prime minister of Bangladesh, the coordinators of the Anti-discrimination Students Movement (Bengali: বৈষম্যবিরোধী ছাত্র আন্দোলন) announced an interim government. This includes two members of the Anti-discrimination Students Movement and Dr. Muhammad Yunus as the chief advisor to the government.^[5][6][7]

The scope of caretaker government was defined in the 13th constitutional amendment. There were six options for the appointment of Chief Advisor, with the President being the last. The caretaker government had to hold elections within 90 days, and hand over power to the newly-elected government within 120 days. It was responsible for maintaining day-to-day government operations, routine duties, and organizing general elections.

• "List of advisers and portfolios". Bangladesh Government. Archived from the original on 11 June 2007.
• Hasanuzzaman, Al Masud (2012). "Caretaker Government". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. (eds.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
• "Khairul Haque made CJ". New Age. Dhaka. 27 September 2010. Archived from the original on 1 October 2010.