Fifth Amendment hearing adjourned until Jan 24

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The Appellate Division has adjourned until January 24 the proceedings on two petitions seeking a stay order on the 2005 High Court judgment declaring the Fifth Amendment to the constitution illegal.
A full six-member Bench of the Division, led by Chief Justice Tafazzul Islam, set Thursday the next hearing date on the petitions by BNP Secretary General Khandaker Delwar Hossain and three lawyers, reports bdnews24.com.
Earlier on Monday, the court had rejected pleas by the petitioners to defer the hearing for eight weeks.
Khandaker Delwar Hossain and three Jamaat-e-Islami-backed lawyers Munshi Ahsan Kabir, Tajul Islam and Kamruzzaman Bhuiyan have filed separate petitions seeking a stay on the 2005 High Court judgment.
The Supreme Court at the start of this month lifted an earlier stay order on the High Court ruling as the government withdrew a previous leave to appeal seeking to challenge the ruling.
Attorney General Mahbubey Alam had told the media at the time that with the withdrawal of the leaves to appeal and vacation of the existing stay order, the High Court ruling was upheld, for now, despite the two more pending petitions.