Public servants’ arrest: Govt now can appeal against HC verdict

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court yesterday allowed the government to move an appeal against a High Court verdict that cleared the way for law enforcers to arrest government employees in criminal cases without permission from the authorities concerned.

The apex court also extended its stay order on the effectiveness of the HC judgment until further directives.

A full bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique, passed the order after a leave to appeal petition was filed by the government challenging the HC verdict.

Other judges of the bench were Justice Md Nuruzzaman, Justice Obaidul Hassan, Justice Borhanuddin and Justice M Enayetur Rahim.

The apex court delivered the order after Attorney General AM Amin Uddin told the court that the parliament passed the Government Service Act-2018 to protect public servants considering them a "different class of people".

Section 41 (1) of the act applies only when an employee is on duty and therefore, law enforcers need permission from the authorities concerned to arrest a public servant when they are on office duty, he argued.

On September 1, the Appellate Division stayed the HC verdict till yesterday, asking the government to file a leave to appeal petition with this court.

After a writ petition was filed by Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh, the HC on August 25 this year scrapped Section 41 (1) and also declared the provision contradictory to the fundamental rights and the constitution.

The Section stated that the law enforcers will have to take approval from the authorities concerned of the government for arresting public servants in connection with criminal cases before submitting a charge sheet.

Senior lawyer Manzill Murshid argued for the writ petitioner while senior lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan stood for the Anti-Corruption Commission during the hearing of the leave to appeal petition yesterday.