The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Thursday stayed a High Court order for six weeks, halting the effectiveness of a notification issued by the Local Government Ministry suspending Dinajpur Municipality Mayor Syed Jahangir Alam.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan passed the order following a petition filed by the government seeking a stay on the HC order.
He was recently sentenced to one month in jail by the Appellate Division in a contempt of court charge.
The Appellate Division also asked the government to file a leave to appeal petition with this court against the HC order.
Jahangir cannot function as mayor of Dinajpur municipality following the order of the apex court.
Attorney General AM Amin Uddin represented the state while lawyer Md Ruhul Quddus Kazal argued for Jahangir.
Earlier on Tuesday, the High Court stayed for a month the suspension of Jahangir Alam and also issued a rule asking the government to explain why the suspension from the post of Dinajpur municipality mayor should not be declared illegal.
The bench of Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam and Justice Md Atabullah issued the order and rule following a writ petition filed by Jahangir challenging the suspension order.
On October 31, the local government, rural development and cooperatives ministry suspended Jahangir from the post of Dinajpur municipality mayor following his jail sentence.
On October 12, the Supreme Court sentenced Dinajpur Municipality Mayor Syed Jahangir Alam to one month in jail and fined him Tk1 lakh for making derogatory comments about one of its judges for giving a verdict against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia.
The court ordered Jahangir to surrender before the lower court concerned of Dinajpur in a week.
On August 18, the Appellate Division issued a contempt of court notice against Jahangir asking him to explain why he should not be punished for his remarks.
Later on August 24, he sought an unconditional apology from the Appellate Division.
That day, the court fixed October 12 for the next hearing.
Syed Jahangir Alam made comments on a YouTube channel about Justice M Enayetur Rahim, a judge of the Appellate Division, owing to a judgement in a case against BNP chief Khaleda Zia.
After that, four lawyers -- Mohammad Harun-Or-Rashid, Mahfuzur Rahman Roman, Md Moniruzzaman Rana and Shafique Raihan Shawon -- submitted a petition.