Staff Correspondent, Dhaka
The High Court ruled that the judgment given by the Labor Appellate Tribunal that 106 former workers of Grameen Kalyan are entitled to receive profits from the Labor Welfare Fund and the Labor Participation Fund is void and null and void.
The High Court bench consisting of Justice Zafar Ahmed and Justice Khondkar Diliruzzaman gave this verdict on the final hearing of a writ on Thursday.
Muhammad Yunus, the controversial Nobel laureate of Bangladesh, is the chairman of Grameen Kalyan.
106 former workers of Grameen Kalyan filed a case (explanatory) in the Labor Appellate Tribunal under section 231 of the Labor Act to get the profits (from 2006 to 2012) from Sramik Kalyan Fund and Sramik Participation Fund. In view of this, the Labor Appellate Tribunal gave its verdict on April 3. Challenging its validity, the Managing Director of Gramin Kalyan filed a writ in the High Court.
On the preliminary hearing of the writ, the High Court ruled on May 31 and ordered to maintain the status quo for six months in the judgment given by the Labor Appellate Tribunal. The ruling asked why the judgment of the Labor Appellate Tribunal would not be without legal authority.
After that, the former 106 workers appealed to the Appellate Division seeking suspension of the High Court’s order. In view of this, on June 22, the Chamber Court of the Appellate Division suspended the order given by the High Court to maintain the status quo. He also fixed the application for hearing in the regular bench of the Appellate Division. On July 10, the Appellate Division ordered the High Court to settle the ruling in this regard.
Lawyers AF Hasan Arif, Abdullah Al Mamun and Khawaja Tanveer Ahmed were present at the hearing for the writ in the High Court.
On the other hand, senior lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan and lawyer Gholam Rabbani Sharif were in the hearing on behalf of 106 workers.