The Supreme Court’s Appellate Division on Monday upheld a High Court order that stayed five cases against Nobel Laureate and Grameen Communications Chairman Dr Muhammad Yunus for violating the labour law.
A three-member virtual bench headed by Justice Muhammad Imman Ali passed the order after resolving five appeals by the prosecution.
The bench also ordered the High Court to dispose of the pending rule quickly.
Barrister Mustafizur Rahman Khan stood for Dr Yunus while Deputy Attorney General Amit Das Gupta represented the state.
On July 3 last year, three sacked employees of Grameen Communications filed the cases with the Labour Court against Yunus, the company’s Managing Director Naznin Sultana and Deputy Managing Director Khandakar Abu Abedin.
According to the case statements, the three employees were fired as they tried to form a trade union at their workplace.
On October 9, 2019, the Dhaka Labour Court had ordered the arrest of Dr Yunus as he did not appear before the court responding to its previous order.
Five days later, the High Court stayed the arrest warrant until October 25 that year.
Later, Dr Yunus secured bail in those cases and filed a petition seeking the court’s directives to scrap them.
On March 4 this year, the High Court issued a rule addressing the government and stayed the trial proceeding of the cases till the rule’s disposal.
