Appeal orders on bar council poll freeze May 28

The apex court today set May 28 to deliver verdicts of three appeals filed challenging the High Court freeze on Bangladesh Bar Council elections.

Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha-led four member bench of the Appellate Division set the date after concluding hearing of the appeals.

The scheduled elections to lawyer regulatory body Bangladesh Bar Council was scheduled to be held on May 27 before the High Court froze the polls for three months last Thursday.

It was that very day two appeals were moved with the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the HC order filed by bar council Secretary Altaf Hossain and candidates AJ Mohammad Ali, AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon and Bodruddoza Badal.

Today morning, Rokanuddin Mahmud, an aspirant of executive member of the bar council filed a appeal seeking apex court order on the authorities concerned to hold the election after correcting the voter list.

The High Court's three-month freeze order of May 21, moved by two writ petitions filed by Eunus Ali Akond, also included two rules questioning the prevailing procedures of the election.

The HC asked the government and Bar Council authorities to explain by four weeks why the polls schedule should not be declared illegal.

In the second rule, the court asked authorities to provide reason why the amendment of Bar Council Act 2003, which limited a member to cast 14 votes, should not be declared illegal.