HC postpones verdict on Gazipur mayor’s suspension

Staff Reporter :
The High Court has given assurance that it will see if any problem arises in submitting of nomination paper by suspended Gazipur City Corporation (GCC) Mayor Mohammad Zahangir Alam for contesting upcoming mayoral election to be held on May 25.
The HC bench of Justice Zafar Ahmed and Justice Md Bashir Ullah
passed the order verbally while hearing on a writ petition filed challenging the legality of government action of suspending Zahangir Alam from the post of GCC Mayor.
When the HC bench fixed May 2 for the next hearing on the writ petition, Zahangir’s lawyers told the court that the time for submission of nomination for the next election would be over by this time. Hence problem may arise in submitting the nomination paper by Zahangir Alam.
Then the court said, “As the Supreme Court vacation will start from April 6 which will end on April 30, we are fixing May 2 as the date of further hearing and verdict. The verdict may defer on May 3 if the hearing continues. However, after that the judgment day will not change.”
The court was scheduled to deliver the judgement on Tuesday (April 4) on the rule that questioned the legality of the government’s action to suspend Zahangir from the GCC mayoral post. But the bench deferred the date for a further hearing for the clarification of Sections 12 and 13 of the Local Government (City Corporation) Act, 2009 regarding the suspension of a city corporation mayor.
The bench asked both the defense and state lawyers to submit relevant documents regarding the sections before the court by April 30.
On August 23 last year, after hearing a writ petition the High Court issued a rule upon the concerned bodies of the government to explain as to why the decision on suspending Zahangir Alam from the post of GCC Mayor should not be declared illegal.
On different allegations the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (LGRD) on November 25 in 2021 suspended Zahangir Alam from the post of the Gazipur City Corporation Mayor. Challenging the decision he filed the writ petition.
It was alleged that speaking at a programme in late September in 2021 Zahangir made some ‘controversial’ comments on Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the number of Liberation War martyrs. Its video footage went viral on social media.
Zahangir was expelled from the party in the meeting of the central executive committee of Awami League on November 19 in 2021. Allegation of violating party discipline was brought against him. He was the General Secretary of Gazipur City unit Awami League.