Rajshahi mayor joins office

Rajshahi City Corporation Mayor Mosaddek Hossain Bulbul joined office yesterday, a day after the High Court stayed the government's second suspension order against him.

Several hundred people greeted Bulbul with flowers around 500 yards away from Nagar Bhaban. He went to his office around 11:30am, said Mahbubur Rahman, public relations officer of the RCC.

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On Sunday, the LGRD ministry suspended Bulbul, also the president of the city BNP, saying that a Rajshahi court accepted charge sheets against him in two cases filed under the Explosive Substances Act.

Meanwhile, the HC yesterday stayed the government orders suspending Meherpur's Mujibnagar upazila Chairman Amirul Islam and Vice Chairman Jarjis Hossain.

Talking to reporters at Nagar Bhaban, Bulbul said: “I will increase my work fivefold and turn the last 15 months of my tenure into five years so that I can fulfil at least half of my election pledges.”

He hoped the government would extend cooperation to him for the city's development.

Bulbul won the RCC polls on June 15, 2013. The LGRD ministry suspended him on May 7 in the following year on the ground that he was charge sheeted in four criminal cases, including one for the murder of police constable Siddhartha Sarker during the BNP-led 20-party alliance's blockade.

Twenty-two RCC ward councillors were also among the accused in the murder case, but the LGRD ministry suspended only the mayor.

He filed a writ petition with the HC, challenging the suspension order. The HC on March 10 last year declared the ministry's order illegal.

The government then moved the Supreme Court challenging the HC order, but the SC upheld the HC verdict last month.

Winning the legal battle, Bulbul went to Nagar Bhaban on Sunday to join his office and found it under lock and key.

When he managed to enter the office after a five-hour wait, he was informed that he had been suspended again.

The High Court on Tuesday stayed the second suspension order following Bulbul's writ petition.

The mayor faces 17 cases of arson and violence. Different courts have so far accepted charge sheets in five of the cases.

MEHERPUR

The HC yesterday stayed two government orders suspending Meherpur's Mujibnagar upazila chairman and vice chairman.

The court also issued two rulings asking the government to explain why the suspension orders should not be declared illegal.

The HC bench of Justice Naima Haider and Justice Abu Taher Md Saifur Rahman came up with the orders and rulings following writ petitions filed by Amirul and Jarjis challenging the legality of the suspension orders.

The LGRD ministry on April 2 suspended the two after a Meherpur court had accepted charge sheets in two criminal cases against them.

In another development, the government yesterday filed a petition with the SC seeking stay on the HC order staying the suspension of Sylhet City Corporation Mayor Ariful Huq Chowdhury.

Ariful was suspended on Sunday, but the HC stayed the suspension order the following day.