SC stays injunction on operation of new committee

The Supreme Court yesterday stayed for eight weeks a High Court order that imposed an injunction on the activities of Jatiya Press Club's existing committee.

Chamber judge of the Appellate Division Justice Hasan Foez Siddique passed the stay order after hearing a petition filed by the committee of the press club led by its President Muhammad Shafiqur Rahman and General Secretary Quamrul Islam Chowdhury.

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The judge heard the petition in his residence-chamber at Judges' Complex in the capital last evening.   

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam, who moved the stay petition, told The Daily Star that there was no legal bar to functioning by the committee led by Shafiqur and Quamrul following the chamber judge's stay order.

He said his clients would file a regular leave to appeal petition with the SC against the HC order after getting its certified copy.

Earlier in the day, the HC issued an injunction against the activities of the committee led by Shafiqur and Quamrul for six months.

The HC bench of Justice Sharif Uddin Chaklader passed the order after hearing a petition filed by Syed Abdal Ahmed, who claimed himself as the club's general secretary.

Abdal submitted the petition to the HC on August 5 saying that the committee led by Shafiqur and Quamrul was illegal, since its members were not elected following the club's constitution.

He also said in the petition that the "illegal" activities of Shafiqur and Quamrul-led committee needed to be stopped by an order.

On May 28, Shafiqur was reportedly made president and Quamrul general secretary of the Jatiya Press Club through an "impromptu election".