SC upholds stay on Gazipur mayor's suspension

The Supreme Court yesterday upheld a High Court order that stayed suspension of Gazipur City Corporation mayor MA Mannan over criminal charges.

A three-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha passed "no order" on an appeal filed by Gazipur city's panel mayor Asaduzzaman Kiron against the HC order.

There is no legal bar for Mannan to discharge duties as the mayor of GCC following the apex court's order, Abu Hanif, a lawyer for Mannan told reporters.

The LGRD ministry on August 19 last year suspended Mannan, after a Gazipur court accepted a charge sheet against him in a case filed with Joydevpur Police Station for an arson attack on a passenger bus in the city on February 4 the same year.

Mannan, also an adviser of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, was arrested in his Baridhara residence on February 11 last year.

The HC on April 11 stayed for six month the LGRD ministry's suspension order.