The Supreme Court on Sunday stayed till May 18 a High Court (HC) order that declared the mobile courts conducted by executive magistrates illegal and contradictory to the Constitution.
Chamber Judge of the Appellate Division Justice Hasan Foyez Siddique passed the order in response to a petition filed by deputy attorney general Motahar Hossain Saju seeking a stay on the HC order in the morning.
A regular bench will hear the petition on May 18. On Thursday, a two-member HC bench comprising Justice M Moinul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Ashish Ranjan Das declared mobile courts illegal and contradictory to the constitution. The court declared section 5, which empowers an executive magistrate to conduct mobile court, and sections 6 (1), 6 (2), 6 (4), 7, 8 (1), 9, 10, 11, 13 and 15 of the Mobile Court Act-2009 illegal and contradictory to the Constitution and independence and supremacy of the judiciary, said Barrister Hasan MS Azim. “And it also goes against the verdict on the Masdar Hossain case,” he said,
On September 14, 2011, a mobile court sentenced Kamruzzaman Khan, chairman of Esthetic Properties Development Ltd, for violating some sections of the Building Construction Act.
Later, Kamruzzaman secured bail in the case and filed a writ petition with the HC challenging the legality of several sections and sub-sections of the Mobile Court Act-2009 on October 11.
On October 19 in the same year, the HC issued a rule asking the authorities concerned to explain why sections 5, 6 (1), 6 (2), 6 (4), 7, 8 (1), 9, 10, 11, 13 and 15 should not be declared illegal and contradictory to the Constitution. In December of that year, Majibur Rahman, a house owner in the capital, filed another writ petition as a mobile court fined him Tk 10 lakh, in default, to server 30 days in jail for violating the Building Construction Act. Following the writ petition, the HC issued another rule in this regard and stayed the mobile court verdict.
On May 2, 2012, 17 bakery owners of Dinajpur filed the 3rd writ petition challenging some sections of the Mobile Court Act-2009 and seeking an HC order to enact a policy of keeping food experts and necessary food-testing equipment with mobile courts. The HC issued a rule taking cognisance of the writ petition on May 8. In March 2017, the HC heard the three rules and kept the order pending.
The mobile court ordinance was promulgated in 2007 during the army-backed caretaker government.
Later, the Awami League-led government passed the Mobile Court Act on October 4, 2009.
