The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Sunday issued status quo on a High Court verdict that directed Awami League lawmaker Abdus Salam Murshedy to hand over a house at Gulshan in Dhaka, which he has allegedly kept under his illegal occupation, to the government.
Justice Md Ashfaqul Islam, chamber judge of the Appellate Division of the SC, passed the order after hearing a petition filed by the lawmaker.
Salam Murshedy does not need to leave the house now following the SC order, said his lawyer Mohammad Sayed Ahmed Raza adding that status quo will continue till disposal of the appeal.
Earlier on March 19 this year, the High Court directed Salam Murshedy to hand over the house at
Gulshan in Dhaka to the government within three months terming it an abandoned property. The court observed that Salam Murshedy occupied an abandoned government house on Road no 104, holding no 29 in the Gulshan Residential Area without releasing it by the court of settlement.
The HC bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Kazi Ebadot Hossain delivered the verdict after holding hearing on a writ petition seeking its directive to recover the Gulshan house allegedly occupied by Salam Murshedy illegally. Meanwhile, Salam Murshedy's lawyer Mohammad Sayed Ahmed Raza termed the HC verdict a rare one.
He said the HC usually does not give such orders without any judgment from a competent court in the case regarding the abandoned property or any property which is directly owned by the government. Supreme Court lawyer Syed Sayedul Haque Suman, also an independent lawmaker, submitted the petition as a public interest litigation to the HC on October 31, 2022.
Following the writ petition, the HC on November 1 in 2022 issued a rule regarding the matter and asked the bodies concerned of the government to submit relevant documents of the house. Upon hearing the rule, the HC on Tuesday disposed of the writ petition with observation.
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