HC questions exec magistrate run mobile courts

The High Court yesterday questioned the legality of some provisions of the Mobile Court Act, 2009 that empowered executive magistrates to run mobile courts.

The HC also issued a rule asking the government to explain in two weeks why such provisions would not be declared unconstitutional.

The HC came up with the rule after hearing a writ petition filed by Pinnacle Sourcing Limited, a food supplement manufacturer.

Seven government officials, including law and home secretaries and the director general of Rapid Action Battalion, have been made respondents to the rule.

The writ was filed after a mobile court, led by an executive magistrate with the assistance of Rab men, in a raid at the company's Mohakhali office on October 26 fined it and jailed its three officials for different terms for irregularities, including running the firm without valid documents.

Making reference to the Appellate Division's judgment in Masdar Hossain case, popularly known as separation of judiciary case, Managing Director of Pinnacle Giyasuddin Khan in his petition said an executive magistrate has no power to run a mobile court.

As per the apex court's judgment, a mobile court has to be run by a judicial official, not by an executive magistrate, as conducting such a court is a judicial function, petitioner's counsel Mizanur Rahman told The Daily Star.

The three officials, including its chief executive officer Debashish Kumar Bhattacharya, are now behind bars.

The lawyer, however, claimed that the company has all relevant legal documents.