The High Court on Thursday scrapped a labour appellate tribunal verdict against Grameen Kalyan that ordered it to pay Tk103 crore to its 106 sacked employees.
At the same time, the court declared the tribunal's verdict illegal.
A two-member High Court bench headed by Justice Zafar Ahmed passed the order disposing of a rule relating to the case.
The Appellate Division had earlier instructed the High Court to dispose of the rule within two months after a full court hearing of a petition filed by Workers' Association leader Bimal Kumar Saha on July 10.
On April 3, the Labour Appellate Tribunal had directed Grameen Kalyan to pay 5% of the company's dividend to the 106 dismissed employees in accordance with the Labour Act. In response, Dr Yunus challenged the tribunal's decision with the High Court.
Following Dr Yunus's petition, the High Court issued a stay on the labour appellate tribunal's order for six months on May 30.
According to court sources, the 106 sacked employees had worked at Telecom Kalyan from 2006 to 2013. They were terminated for various reasons, and the company failed to provide 5% of its dividend for the fiscal years between 2006 and 2013 to the workers.
As per labour law, the company is obligated to allocate 5% of its dividend to the workers' participation fund and the welfare fund. As the company refused to distribute the workers' dividends, the affected employees sent a legal notice to Grameen Kalyan. When the company did not respond, they filed a case with the labour court.