A three-member Appellate Division bench of SC headed by Chief Justice Syed JR Mudassir Husain made the ruling, rejecting the government's appeal for a stay on the HC order.

The bench, however, deleted the portion of the order that had asked for the statements made by some ruling BNP lawmakers about harbouring the militants allegedly by a section of the alliance government.

In response to a writ petition filed by a member of Bangladesh Bar Council, a division bench on Wednesday ordered the government to submit progress reports to the HC every two weeks on the investigations into the attacks on court premises.

The HC also issued a rule on the government why its continuous failure to discharge constitutional obligations to hold impartial, adequate and effective investigations into the blasts on court premises since August 17 should not be declared a failure in protecting fundamental rights.

The rule also asked the government to show cause why the government omission in taking adequate and effective measures to ensure security for the judiciary, court officers, lawyers, police personnel and court-users should not be declared a failure to protect the fundamental rights of the petitioner.

Advocate ZI Khan Panna, chairman of the Human Rights Committee of Bar Council that represents as many as 40,000 legal practitioners of the country, filed the petition on behalf of the committee.

Attorney General AJ Mohammad Ali who moved the appeal for the government submitted that the writ petition had been filed in the HC to prove that the government has failed to investigate the blast incidents.

He argued that the way the HC order came was sort of politically motivated and it [order] might influence the ongoing investigations.

Opposing the argument, Dr Kamal Hossain asked why the government should be scared of the HC order. "Doesn't it [the government] want proper investigations into the matters," he questioned further.

"In the interim order, the High Court had not passed any such directives that the government had to feel aggrieved. The Supreme Court is the guardian of the Constitution as well as all the courts of law. Courts across the country have been the targets of repeated bomb attacks and that is why the highest court will have to look into the matter seriously," he added.

Dr Kamal also cited instances of the Indian SC that had ordered the government on several occasions to submit progress reports on investigations of such criminal acts.

"After the August 17 countrywide blasts, attacks had been launched on the judiciary, but the government has yet to take any effective steps to ward off such assaults," Kamal said.

"Everybody knows in what context the writ petition had been filed. Police have continuously been failing to complete probe into the blast incidents," continued the noted jurist.

Citing the example of the release of Khamaru, a close aide to Bangla Bhai, he said, "We observed that police had released some identified JMB cadres after their arrests."

He said he wonders if those instances of release took place on orders of the government high-ups.

The government should carry out the HC order to know who are making the bomb attacks, Kamal said, adding that names of the people responsible for the killings will come out if the order is obeyed.

Additional Attorneys General Abdur Razzak Khan and Fida M Kamal assisted AJ Mohammad Ali while Dr Kamal was accompanied by Barrister Rokanuddin Mahmud, Dr M Zahir, Advocate Mahbubey Alam, Barrister Sara Hossain and Barrister Tanjib ul Alam.

After the passing of the HC order, attorney general went to the residence of Chamber Judge Justice Amirul Kabir Chowdhury with a plea for stay on Thursday. But the judge fixed the petition to be heard by the full bench of Appellate Division of the SC.