EC registration: SC restores Jamaat’s appeal against scrapping

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court yesterday restored an appeal that challenged a High Court verdict scrapping the Jamaat-e-Islami's registration with the Election Commission as a political party.

The apex court will now fix a date for holding a complete hearing of the appeal on merit, said Mohammad Shishir Manir, a lawyer for the Jamaat.

"If the Appellate Division allows the appeal after holding a hearing on it, Jamaat-e-Islami will get back its registration and will participate in elections," he told The Daily Star.

A four-member bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed, passed the order yesterday after holding hearing on a petition filed by Jamaat, seeking restoration of its appeal.

The other three judges of the bench are Justice Md Ashfaqul Islam, Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury, and Justice Md Rezaul Haque.

The apex court bench also condoned 286 day's delay in filing Jamaat's restoration petition after this court had dismissed its appeal against the HC verdict.

On September 1 this year, lawyer Shishir Manir submitted the restoration petition to the apex court on behalf of Jamaat Secretary General Miah Golam Parwar seeking necessary directives.

On that day, the lawyer told The Daily Star that the Appellate Division earlier dismissed the Jamaat's appeal without holding a complete hearing.

On November 19 last year, a five-member bench of the Appellate Division, headed by the then chief justice Obaidul Hassan, dismissed the Jamaat's appeal for "default" as its counsels did not appear before the court on that day.

Yesterday, Jamaat's lawyer Barrister Ehsan Abdullah Siddiq told the SC bench that senior counsel AJ Mohammad Ali, now dead, for the party in this case could not attend the court for placing arguments due to political programmes, including countrywide strikes, and his illness.

Maulana Syed Rezaul Haque Chandpuri, secretary general of the Bangladesh Tariqat Federation, along with 24 others, filed a writ petition with the HC on January 25, 2009, seeking its order declaring the Jamaat's registration illegal.

The petitioners said that the Jamaat is a religion-based political party, and it does not believe in the independence and sovereignty of Bangladesh.

Following the writ petition, the HC on August 1, 2013, declared the Jamaat's registration with the EC illegal.

The EC scrapped the Jamaat's registration in October 2018, making it clear that the party will not be able to contest the upcoming national election.

In the verdict, two judges of the three-member HC bench declared the registration illegal. However, the other judge disagreed with the decision made by his two colleagues.

The Jamaat then filed the appeal with the apex court challenging the HC verdict.

Attorney Ehsan Abdullah placed arguments on behalf of the petitioner, while a number of pro-Jamaat lawyers, including its leader Md Jashim Uddin Sarker and Shishir Manir, were present at the court during yesterday's hearing.