Jamaat's stay plea rejected
The High Court verdict declaring illegal Jamaat-e-Islami's registration with the Election Commission as a political party will remain in force as the chamber judge of the Supreme Court has turned down Jamaat's petition for stay on the verdict.
Political parties not registered with the EC cannot contest national elections.
The Chamber Judge, Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury Manik, yesterday rejected Jamaat's petition, saying that there is no logical ground in the petition for staying the HC verdict. And even the petitioner's counsel did not place any arguments in support of the petition.
The judge said Jamaat could move a regular appeal before the apex court against the verdict after getting its full text, and the court will decide on the whole matter.
Jamaat's lawyer Tajul Islam told The Daily Star that they would submit a fresh stay petition with the SC along with a regular appeal against the HC verdict.
On August 1, a three-member special HC bench by a majority view declared Jamaat's registration illegal and unlawful, and of no legal effect. It gave the verdict upon a writ petition.
Yesterday, the Jamaat counsel prayed to the apex court chamber judge either to adjourn hearing of the petition or to drop it from the hearing list, saying that senior counsel for Jamaat Abdur Razzaq was not in the court.
Meanwhile, the writ petitioners' lawyer M Amir-Ul Islam, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam and Additional Attorney General MK Rahman opposed the contention arguments of Tajul Islam, and prayed to the court to reject the stay petition.
They mentioned that Jamaat filed the stay petition soon after the HC delivered the verdict.
Jamaat is now trying to stay away from the petition, which is an unfair practice, they said.
They also argued that there is no merit in the stay petition and therefore, it should be rejected.
Comments