The High Court has declared hartals, strikes or work stoppages called in protest against court verdicts or orders illegal and unconstitutional.
It also directed the authorities concerned to take legal and criminal action against bus owners’ associations and workers’ organisations if they call transport strikes or hartals in protest against court verdicts or orders.
A High Court bench comprising Justice Shashanka Kumar Sarkar and Justice Faisal Hasan Arif delivered the judgment on Sunday.
In its observation, the court said all executive and judicial authorities are bound to comply with Supreme Court verdicts and orders under Article 112 of the Constitution.
An aggrieved party may appeal against a verdict or seek other lawful remedies, the court said, adding that calling a hartal, strike or work stoppage against a court verdict or order is not lawful.
Such programmes not only show disrespect to the judiciary but also run counter to the Constitution, it observed.
The court directed the secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), the Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) and other relevant authorities to take necessary legal action if any hartal or strike is called against a court verdict or order.
In August 2011, five people, including filmmaker Tareque Masud and journalist and broadcaster Munier Mishuk, were killed when a Deluxe Paribahan bus collided with a microbus in Ghior upazila of Manikganj.
Following the trial, a Manikganj court sentenced the bus driver on February 22, 2017.
Protesting the sentence, bus owners called a transport strike and hartal. After reports of the programmes appeared in the media, Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB) filed a writ petition with the High Court in the public interest.
On March 1, 2017, a High Court division bench issued a rule and ordered the strike and hartal to be withdrawn within 24 hours and normal traffic movement to be restored. The transport strike was withdrawn the following day.
The final hearing of the rule was later held by the bench of Justice Shashanka Kumar Sarkar and Justice Faisal Hasan Arif. After lengthy proceedings, the court made the rule absolute and delivered the judgment.
During the hearing, senior lawyer Manzil Morshed, appearing for HRPB, told the court that under Article 112 of the Constitution, all concerned authorities are bound to comply with court verdicts and directions.
He said bus owners had shown disrespect to the court by calling a transport strike after the bus driver was convicted in the accident case.
