Staff Reporter:
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court yesterday released the full text of its verdict overturning a High Court ruling that had declared the registration of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami as a political party illegal.
The four-member Appellate Division bench, led by the then Chief Justice, delivered the judgment on June 1 last year.
The Election Commission (EC) granted Jamaat registration as a political party in November 2008. In 2009, Syed Rezaul Haque Chandpuri and 25 others filed a writ petition challenging the legality of the registration.
After a final hearing, a three-member bench of the High Court declared Jamaat’s registration illegal by majority opinion on August 1, 2013. The court also granted a certificate for appeal against the verdict, which was later converted into an appeal.
Jamaat also filed a regular leave-to-appeal petition that year.
Following the High Court verdict, Jamaat sought a stay order, but the then Chamber Judge of the Appel-late Division, Justice AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury, rejected the plea on August 5, 2013.
Subsequently, on December 7, 2018, the Election Commission officially cancelled Jamaat’s registration through a gazette notification.
On November 19, 2023, the Appellate Division dismissed Jamaat’s appeal and leave-to-appeal petitions against the High Court verdict after no lawyer appeared on behalf of the party.
Jamaat filed separate petitions following the fall of the Awami League government on August 5, 2024, seeking restoration of the appeal and leave-to-appeal by condoning delays. After hearing the matter, the Appellate Division restored the petitions.
The appeal and leave-to-appeal were later included in the Appellate Division’s hearing schedule, and hearings began on December 3, 2024.
Jamaat also filed an application regarding the allocation of its electoral symbol.
The court subsequently tagged the application with the appeal and leave-to-appeal for hearing.
After concluding hearings, the Appellate Division delivered its verdict on June 1 last year.
During the previous Awami League government, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued a notification on August 1, 2024, banning Jamaat and its student wing – Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir.
Following the formation of an interim government on August 8, 2024 after the fall of the AL govern-ment, the ban on Jamaat and Shibir was withdrawn.
