Staff Reporter :
A Labour Court on Wednesday completed testimony of the second prosecution witness in the case filed against Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus and three others on charge of violating labour law.
Second witness, Md Hadiuzzaman, an Inspector of the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE), gave his statement in the court and later the defense lawyers cross-examined him.
Concluding the testimony, Judge of the Third Labour Court, Sheikh Merina Sultana, fixed October 26 this year for further proceedings of the case.
Barrister Abdullah Al Mamun and Barrister Khaja Tanvir Ahmed appeared in the court hearing on behalf of Prof Yunus and others, while Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan and Syed Haider Ali represented the DIFE.
In his statement second witness said, “Grameen Telecom, an organization owned by Prof Yunus, have appointed many employees on a contractual basis, however, such kind of appointment is contrary to the Labour law.”
Barrister Abdullah Al Mamun said, “Many workers are appointed on a contractual basis.
However, that is only for six months. After six months their jobs were regularized.
The witness could not provide any evidence for the allegation that no one was made permanent after six months.”
Earlier on October 11, the court completed the cross examination of first prosecution witness Tariqul Islam.
On June 6 this year, the same court framed charge against the accused including Prof Yunus in the case filed by the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments for allegedly violating the labour law.
The other accused in the case are- Grameen Telecom Managing Director Ashraful Hassan, Directors Nurjahan Begum and Md Shahjahan.
Inspector of the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments, Arifuzzaman, filed the case with Dhaka 3rd Labour Court on 9 September in 2021 against four people including Prof Yunus.