Contempt petition filed against DU VC

A contempt of court petition was filed with the High Court yesterday against the vice-chancellor, proctor and treasurer of Dhaka University for not complying with its directive over holding the Dhaka University Central Students' Union (Ducsu) election.

Advocate Manzill Murshid submitted the petition on behalf of Sumitra Das, a former student of DU, praying to the HC to issue a rule asking the VC, proctor and treasurer to explain why they should not be penalised for violating its directive.

The lawyer told The Daily Star that the HC may hold hearing on the contempt of court petition on Sunday.

On September 4, Manzill sent a legal notice to the VC, proctor and treasurer to take steps to hold the Ducsu election within seven days.

The VC recently replied to the legal notice, denying the allegation of committing contempt of court, Manzill Murshid told this correspondent.

On January 17 this year, the HC directed respondents to hold Ducsu election in six months, following a writ petition filed by 25 former DU students.

The HC order was officially sent to the respondents in February this year, the lawyer said, adding that the stipulated time for holding elections ended in August.

The last election to Ducsu took place on June 6, 1990, and students have been demanding polls for a long time.