HC bench formed for final hearing

The acting chief justice has assigned a High Court bench for final hearing of a writ petition that challenged Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya's holding offices as a minister and a lawmaker after the Supreme Court had scrapped his acquittal in a corruption case.

Justice Md Abdul Wahhab Miah, a senior judge of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, who is functioning as the chief justice in the absence of Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, has assigned the bench of Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed on Tuesday.

Justice Wahhab Miah also sent the petition along with the split orders to the HC bench for its hearing and disposal, Deputy Attorney General Motaher Hossain Sazu told The Daily Star yesterday.

Following a writ petition filed by SC lawyer Eunus Ali Akond, Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury of an HC bench on August 17 issued a rule asking Maya to explain under what authority he was holding the offices, while Justice Md Ashraful Kamal summarily rejected the petition on the ground that the Jatiya Sangsad Speaker and the Election Commission can decide any dispute in this regard as per the constitution.

On February 14, 2008, a special court jailed Maya for 13 years and fined Tk 5 crore for amassing illegal property in the case.

In October 2010, the HC cleared the AL leader of the charges following an appeal by him. But on June 14 this year, the apex court scrapped the HC judgment and directed it to hold further hearing, and dispose of Maya's appeal challenging the lower court verdict.