HC verdict on mobile court stayed

Staff Correspondent: The Supreme Court (SC) stayed till May 18 the High Court (HC) verdict that declared the mobile courts run by executive magistrates illegal and unconstitutional.

The Chamber Judge of the Appellate Division Justice Hasan Foez Siddique passed the order on Sunday following a petition filed by the government seeking stay on the HC verdict.

The chamber judge also sent the stay petition to the full bench of the Appellate Division for its hearing on May 18.

Deputy Attorney General Motahar Hossain Sazu filed the petition to the division concern of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court (SC) on Sunday morning seeking a stay on the HC verdict.

The Deputy Attorney General told risingbd.com that the executive magistrate can run mobile court following the SC judge’s order until further order of the Supreme Court.

On May 11, the High Court delivered verdict declaring the mobile courts conducted by executive magistrates illegal and unconstitutional.

The HC bench comprising Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Ashish Ranjan Das pronounced the verdict on the day.

The court also directed the government to refund Tk 10 lakh to M Mujibur Rahman, who was fined by a mobile court in 2011. The money has to be refunded in 90 days.

Following the petitions filed by several persons including one Kamruzzaman Khan, the HC in 2011 and 2012 issued separate rules asking the government to explain why the provisions of the Mobile Court Act, 2009, that empower executive magistrates to exercise judicial powers through mobile courts should not be declared unconstitutional.

Mobile courts, which are constituted under the Mobile Court Act, 2009, are empowered to try a number of petty offences including illegal assembly, public nuisance and illegal connection of electricity, water and gas, and to supervise examination centres.

The court also issued a rule saying it is hereby declared that sections 5, 6(1), 6(2), 6(4), 7, 8(1), 9, 10, 11, 13 and 15 of the [mobile court] Ain [act] No 59 of 2009 are ultra vires the constitution and violative of two basic structures of the constitution, namely, independence of the judiciary and separation of powers between the three organs of the state, namely, the executive, the legislature and the judiciary.

Real estate businessman Kamruzzaman Khan, who was convicted by a mobile court, filed the writ petition on October 11, 2011 stating that those provisions of the act that empower executive magistrates to exercise judicial powers are against the fundamental structure of the constitution.

risingbd/DHAKA/May 14, 2017/Mehedi/Amirul