HC judge embarrassed to hear petition

A High Court judge yesterday felt embarrassed to hear a writ petition that challenged the legality of holding the office of a lawmaker by ruling Awami League leader Nizam Uddin Hazari.

Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Miah, however, did not disclose why he felt embarrassed.

The bench of Justice Mozibur also dropped the petition from the hearing list and sent it to Justice Md Abdul Wahhab Miah, who is performing the functions of the chief justice.

After receiving the petition, Justice Wahhab Miah will assign another bench for hearing and disposal of the three year-old writ petition, petitioner's lawyer Advocate Subrata Chowdhury told The Daily Star.

He also said earlier two separate benches of the HC refused to hear the same petition after a two-judge bench on December 6 last year delivered a split verdict on it.

On December 6 last year, Justice Md Emdadul Huq, senior judge of the bench, said in his part of the judgement that Nizam Uddin Hazari cannot hold the office of parliament member as per Article 66 (2)(D) of the constitution as he is convicted in an arms case.

Meanwhile, his (Justice Emdadul) colleague Justice FRM Nazmul Ahasan said the writ petition is not acceptable, as there is a question of disputed fact regarding serving jail by Nizam Uddin Hazari in the case. Shakhawat Hossain Bhuiyan, a Jubo League leader of Feni, filed the petition as public interest litigation with the HC on June 8, 2014 praying to the court to declare Nizam disqualified for contesting the parliamentary polls and holding the office as a lawmaker because of his alleged forgery in getting an early release from jail in a criminal case.

Quoting a newspaper report, Shakhawat in his petition said a Chittagong court sentenced Nizam to 10 years' imprisonment in an arms case on August 16, 2000. He surrendered to the court on September 14, 2000, and was sent to Chittagong jail to serve his term.

But he was released on December 1, 2005, through fraudulence, Shakhawat said. Nizam was supposed to be in jail until September 13, 2010, and he, according to the law, was not supposed to be eligible to run in parliamentary polls before September 2015.

Nizam provided false information about serving his jail term to the Election Commission, he added. The HC issued a rule the same day asking the government and the Election Commission to explain why the ruling Awami League leader Nizam Uddin Hazari's parliament seat should not be declared vacant.

The office of inspector general of prisons submitted a report to the HC on July 19 last year saying that Nizam Uddin Hazari had suffered in jail around 2.5 years less than he was supposed to serve in the arms case.