Supreme Court says Sylhet mayor can resume office

The decision was made on Thursday after the Supreme Court dropped a government petition from its cause list against Sylhet Mayor Ariful Haque Chowdhury. Ariful was suspended on January 7, 2015 by the Local Government Ministry in connection to the Kibria murder case, and he moved to the High Court on March 12, 2017. After the High Court overruled the suspension order of Ariful on Monday, the government filed a petition with a chamber judge of the Appellate Division against the High Court's order. The chamber judge echoed the High Court’s order and stayed the suspension. Therefore, the suspension will not go into effect and Ariful is free to resume his mayoral duties. Meanwhile, Ariful has requested cooperation from the public in resuming his mayoral duties during a press meeting on Thursday afternoon in Sylhet. He apologised to the citizens of Sylhet who he could not serve to their expectations. Mayor Ariful said the higher court has granted him justice, and now he wants to resume serving the people by working towards fulfilling his election manifesto. The mayor then went to Sylhet Town Hall where he was greeted by the city corporation staff. Additional Attorney General Momtaz Uddin Fakir said: “The government is now thinking of moving the plea to a “leave to appeal” petition.”