The Chamber Judge of the Appellate Division Justice MM Ruhul Amin passed the order on a petition filed by the government.

Attorney General AJ Moham-mad Ali and Additional Attorney General Abdur Razzak Khan who moved for the government told journalists yesterday that they filed the petition for time extension as the government is yet to get the copy of the High Court judgement.

In a historic verdict on August 29 this year, the High Court also declared illegal the rules of Khandker Mushtaque Ahmed, Abu Sadaat Mohammad Sayem, and Maj Gen Ziaur Rahman from August 15, 1975 to April 9, 1979.

The High Court judgement came as a consequence of a decades-old writ petition filed challenging the Martial Law Regulation 7 of 1977 that was issued to legalise all acts of the martial law government prior to that time.

Maksud Alam, owner of then Moon cinema at Waizghat in Dhaka and now managing director of Bangladesh Italian Marble Works Limited, filed the petition.

Chamber Judge of the Appellate Division Justice Amirul Kabir Chowdhury stayed the High Court judgement at midnight on the same day after the government filed a petition.

On August 31, the full bench of the Appellate Division extended for two months the stay order. The tenure of this order ended on Sunday.

Counsels for the writ petitioner were not present in the court yesterday.