The High Court today directed the government to maintain status quo for two months on publication of the gazette notification for implementing the recommendation of the ninth wage board for journalists.

The HC bench Justice Obaidul Hassan and Justice Mohammad Ali passed the order following a writ petition filed by the Newspaper Owners' Association of Bangladesh (Noab)challenging the legality of the ninth wage board.

Following the HC order, the government cannot implement the recommendation of the wageboard, Advocate Yousuf Ali, lawyer for Noab, told The Daily Star.

On June 16, Obaidul Quader, road transport and bridges minister, said the 9th Wage Board Award will be announced soon, after a meeting of the cabinet committee on the issue and once Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina gives her consent. 

The committee, led by Quader, was formed to review the wage board award for journalists and employees of newspapers and news agencies.

The minister made the remarks after a meeting where all the relevant stakeholders, including representatives of the Newspaper Owners’ Association of Bangladesh (Noab), journalist leaders, and employees of newspapers and news agencies, gave their statements on the wage board award.

Earlier, the Noab statement had termed the new wage board award unrealistic and said implementing it would be difficult as the industry was going through a hard time.