Court Correspondent :
The High Court Division of the Supreme Court yesterday summarily rejected a writ petition that sought its order to ban Awami League as a political party and cancel its registration for the indiscriminate killings of students and other people during the anti-government protests in July and early August.
The High Court bench consisting of Justice AKM Asaduzzaman and Justice Muhammad Mahbub Ul Islam passed the order after hearing on the petition. Arifur Rahman Murad Bhuiyan, Executive Director of rights organisation Sarda Society, submitted the petition as a public interest litigation on August 19, also praying for a High Court order to make the tenure of the current interim government three years and to change the names of the institutions, which are in the name of former Prime Minister and Awami League President Sheikh Hasina.
The petition also sought to bring Tk 11 lakh crores laundered abroad back to the country and to transfer the officials who were appointed on a contractual basis during the regimes of the previous Awami League government.
During hearing of the petition on August 27, Attorney General Md. Asaduzzaman urged the High Court to summarily reject the writ petition, saying that the current government has no intention to ban any political organisation.
He told the High Court that this interim government believes in the freedom of organisation and political parties that are enshrined in the constitution.
The Attorney General said those who were involved in the previous authoritarian government and committed misdeeds can be tried through the courts of law, but it is not appropriate to ban any political party for their personal activities.
During the hearing on Sunday, Asaduzzaman told the High Court that the person who submitted the writ petition has no locus standi (the right or capacity to bring an action or to appear in court) to file such a petition as his organisation’s constitution does not allow him to do so.
The Attorney General urged the High Court to impose a cost on the writ petitioner for wasting the court’s time by filing and moving the petition.
He told the court that there are many good leaders and workers in the Awami League who believe in their ideology.
“We have seen that many political issues have been brought to the court in the past, and we had to pay for that.
The mass uprising that has recently taken place has also reached the judiciary.
If something happens with the court, my heart bleeds as a lawyer. That is why politics should remain in the political field,” he argued.
Attorney General Asaduzzaman also said, “We have seen attacks on the Chief Justice’s residence, which none of us wanted. Such an outpouring of anger took place in the context of the judiciary’s patronage and injustice during past authoritarian regimes.”
He said the writ petitioner has not made Awami League any party in the petition and has not served any notice to this political party before filing the petition.
Therefore, the writ petition is not acceptable, he argued.
Petitioner Arifur Rahman Murad Bhuiyan moved the petition himself.