SC order on May 8: Labour Court will continue its proceedings against Prof Yunus

Staff Reporter :
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Monday concluded the hearing on two leave to appeal petitions filed by Nobel laureate Prof Dr Muhammad Yunus and another one against a ruling that cleared the way for a Labour Court to continue its proceedings of a case filed against them.
A three-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Justice Md Nuruzzaman concluded the hearing and fixed May 8 in 2023 for passing order on the matter.
Earlier on August 17 in 2022, the High Court
 cleared the way for the Labour Court concerned to continue its proceedings of a case filed against Prof Yunus and three others on charge of violating the labour law.
The High Court discharged a rule asking the government to explain as to why they should not be directed to scrap the trial proceedings of the case filed against Grameen Telecom chairman Prof Yunus and three others.
The High Court bench of Justice S M Kuddus Zaman and Justice Fahmida Quader delivered the verdict after hearing the rule.
Later Prof Yunus and Nurjahan Begum filed two separate leave to appeal petitions against the High Court verdict.
Barrister Abdullah Al Mamun appeared in the court hearing on behalf of Prof Yunus, while Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan represented the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE) who filed the case.
Barrister Mamun said, this case is illegal and filed intentionally to harass his client.
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 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.
After hearing the case, the Labour Court had also summoned the four to appear before it on October 12 in 2021. Later the Labour Court granted bail to Dr Yunus in the case on that day.
According to the case documents, a team of DIFE went on an inspection to Grameen Telecom and found the violations of labour laws like not regularizing 101 staff, not establishing a welfare fund for the labourers, among others.