The High Court yesterday did not allow a religious organisation to file a petition seeking to observe the holy Shab-e-barat on an earlier date.

It asked them to wait until tomorrow, when a committee -- formed on April 13 to resolve the confusion over the date of the holy night -- would submit its report to the Islamic Foundation.

Majlisu Ruiatul Hilal, described by their lawyer as an “unregistered international moon-sighting committee”, sought permission from the HC to move the writ petition seeking its directives on the Islamic Foundation so that it declares that Shab-e-Barat would be observed on the night of April 20.

The organisation claimed that the Sha'ban moon was sighted in Bangladesh on April 6.

The HC bench of Justice FRM Nazmul Ahasan and Justice KM Kamrul Kader, however, did not permit the writ petition to be filed.

The bench termed the issue “a sensitive matter” and said it should not be brought before court.

It asked the organisation's leaders to submit their statement in writing to the director general of the Islamic Foundation.

Majlisu Ruiatul Hilal's lawyer, Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan, told The Daily Star that his clients would wait until tomorrow and would file a writ petition if the Islamic Foundation does not declare that the Shab-e-Barat will be observed on the night of April 20.

Khan also said that his clients had sighted the Sha'ban moon in Bangladesh on April 6.

The National Moon-Sighting Committee on April 6 declared that Shab-e-Barat would be observed on the night of April 21 as the moon was not sighted on that day.

The decision came after a meeting on April 6 of the National Moon Sighting Committee, which was presided over by its president Sheikh M Abdullah, also the religious affairs minister. The meeting was held at the Islamic Foundation office in the capital's Baitul Mukarram area.

Assistant Attorney General Md Saiful Alam represented the state before the HC yesterday.