Govt files appeal with SC over HC's EPR ruling

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The government Sunday appealed to the Supreme Court to reverse the High Court ruling that cancelled key clauses of the Emergency Powers Rules (EPR), reports bdnews24.com.
Deputy Attorney General Zahirul Islam Mukul said that they had filed an appeal against the High Court ruling and they also urged the court to freeze the ruling.
"The High Court gave its ruling banning a number of sections of emergency powers rules. As they are related to law the ruling should be considered in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court will determine whether the High Court ruling was right," he said.
Amir-ul Islam will argue on behalf of the writ petitioners, while the state will be represented by Attorney General Salahuddin Ahmed.
The High Court in its order overturned, among others, the clause of the EPR that bans bail for the convicts and prohibits a stay on the ruling while the trial court is hearing an appeal.
The bench of justices ABM Khairul Huq and Abdul Huq Thursday also cancelled the clause that no order under the emergency powers ordinance can be challenged.
It also passed a ruling that the Anticorruption Commission cannot change the trial court, on a writ petition that challenged the legality of the EPR.
Former caretaker government adviser Sultana Kamal, editor of the New Age daily Nurul Kabir and assistant professor of the Department of Law of the University of Dhaka Sheikh Hafizur Rahman Curzon filed the petition.
In its orders, the High Court declared illegal and scrapped the Section 5 of the emergency powers ordinance and sections 11(3), 19(d).(e) of the EPR.
The orders also partially scrapped the Section 18 (a) of the EPR.