The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court (SC) on Sunday cleared the way for trial court concerned to continue the proceedings of a case filed against Nobel Laureate Prof Dr Muhammad Yunus and others on charge of violating the labour law.
The apex court has finally dismissed a petition filed by Prof Yunus and others that sought cancellation of charge framing order in the case.
A seven-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique passed the order after hearing the petition.
Earlier, the High Court also rejected the same petition. The apex court upheld the High Court order.
Barrister Abdullah Al Mamun along with Barrister Khaja Tanvir Ahmed argued for Prof Yunus, while Attorney General AM Amin Uddin appeared for the state and Senior Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan represented the complainant of the case during the hearing.
Later, Mr Khaja Tanvir Ahmed said there is no bar for the trial court concerned to continue the proceedings of the case following the SC order.
Following a writ petition, the High Court on August 8 discharged a rule that questioned the legality of indictment of Prof Yunus and others in the case. Then they filed the petition with the apex court.
On June 6, Judge of the Third Labour Court in Dhaka, Sheikh Merina Sultana, framed charge against Prof Yunus and three others in the case filed by the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE).
The other accused in the case are- Grameen Telecom Managing Director Ashraful Hassan, Directors Nurjahan Begum and Md Shahjahan.
Inspector of the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments, Arifuzzaman, filed the case with Dhaka 3rd Labour Court on September 9 in 2021 against four people including Prof Yunus.
According to the case documents, a team of DIFE went on an inspection to Grameen Telecom and found the violations of labour laws like not regularising its 101 staff, not establishing a welfare fund for the labourers, among others.
Besides, 5 percent of the company's dividends was supposed to be paid to the workers participation fund but it was not paid, the case statement also read.
After hearing the case, the Labour Court had also summoned the four to appear before it on October 12 in 2021. Later, the Labour Court granted bail to Prof Yunus in the case on that day.
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