SC Reopens Today
Hearing on renewal of GP licence, order on Kadar's case this week
The Supreme Court (SC) reopens today with both the Appellate and High Court divisions after a two-week Eid-ul-Azha vacation beginning October 28.
This week some important issues would come up including renewal of Grameenphone's (GP) licence, the broadcasting of Jamuna Television and order on the Dhaka University student Abdul Kadar's case.
The Appellate Division is set to hear tomorrow a leave to appeal petition by Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) against an HC October 26 order that stayed the effectiveness of a BTRC notice to GP.
BTRC issued the notice on October 17 asking GP to pay Tk 3,624.03 crore as its license renewal and spectrum assignment fees within 10 days. The amount includes an additional Tk 236.8 crore for the radio frequency in 1,800 megahertz band, which the operator already purchased for 18 years in 2008.
Furthermore, the apex court will deliver a verdict on November 16 on Jamuna Television's appeal against an HC judgement that justified the government's cancellation of its frequency and stopping its test transmission.
Jamuna TV, a private satellite television channel, went on test transmission on October 15, 2009. The government stopped its transmission and cancelled its allocation of frequency on November 19, 2009 on charge of operating without any license and no objection certificate (NOC).
The HC upheld the government decision on May 20 last year after the television authorities challenged the move. The television authorities then challenged the HC verdict.
The Appellate Division on October 26 fixed November 16 for passing verdict on the appeal.
In addition, the HC is also set to pass orders on the case of Abdul Kadar, a Dhaka University student who was tortured in police custody in July this year.
Deputy Attorney General ABM Altaf Hossain said the government may place two separate probe reports on the incident of torture of Abdul Kadar this week before an HC bench headed by Justice AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik.
The bench, which had ordered for the probe, will then pass further order, he said.
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