High Court symbol
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the Commerce Ministry’s order for appointing an administrator for Hajj Agency Association of Bangladesh (HAAB) after dissolving its executive committee on October 15.A four member bench led by Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed passed the order after staying the ‘status-quo’ issued by the High Court Division in this regard earlier.
Senior lawyer Barrister Ruhul Quddus Kazal, Dr Shahdeen Malik and other lawyers stood for the writ petition, lawyers Jainul Abedin, Barrister Mahbub Uddin Khokan, Barrister Kaiser Kamal and others represented the HAAB while Attorney General Md Asaduzzaman and his associates represented the state.
Lawyer Ruhul Quddus said the court upheld the ministry’s order to appoint a Joint Commissioner as Administrator for the HAAB.
Following the order, the HAAB at present won’t be able to hold its annual general meeting (AGM) and perform its duty.
On October 15, the Ministry ordered the Administrator to hold a fair election within 120 days and hand over the duty to the HAAB.
The Ministry took the decision upon an anti-discrimination HAAB forum submitted an appeal to dismantle the committee.
On October 16, the HAAB held a press conference protesting the Ministry order and subsequently submitted a writ petition with the High Court seeking a stay order.
The High Court stayed the Ministry’s order after hearing the petition last week.
Against the order, the anti-discrimination again submitted a petition with the Appellate Division while the HAAB announced to hold the AGM on Tuesday.
Protesting the announcement of the AGM, the anti-discrimination forum submitted a complementary appeal to the Chamber Court.
After hearing the appeal on October 28, the Chamber Judge postponed the AGM and sent the appeal to the regular bench of the court for hearing. - Special Correspondent