The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has upheld the ‘status quo’ order by the Chamber Court on the Bangladesh Film Artistes Association general secretary’s post and has directed the High Court to settle its stay order on the decision to scrap Zayed’s candidacy, bdnews24.com reports.
A full bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique passed the order on Monday after settling Nipun’s appeal against the stay order.
Lawyers Rokanuddin Mahmud and Mostafizur Rahman represented Nipun Akter, while lawyer Ahsanul Karim represented Zayed Khan.
The High Court is scheduled to hold a hearing over the stay order on Tuesday.
On Feb 7, the High Court issued a stay on the BFAA’s decision to scrap the candidacy of Zayed Khan in the race for the general secretary’s post at the organisation over allegations of vote-buying. The decision had also led to Nipun Akter, the runner-up in the election, being declared the winner.
The High Court had also ordered the authorities not to block Zayed from performing his duties as general secretary.
Actress Nipun appealed against the High Court order on Feb 8.
The Chamber Court of the Appellate Division then imposed a ‘status quo’ order on the BFAA general secretary’s post, halting the stay order issued earlier by the High Court.
“Today is Feb 9. No one can hold the post of general secretary before that date [Feb 13],” said the judge.
On Jan 29, Ilias Kanchan won the president’s post and Zayed Khan the general secretary post in the BFAA election. Nipun, who was defeated, fought the decision.
Following her complaint, Sohanur Rahman Sohan, the chairman of the appeals board of the organisation, investigated allegations of vote-buying, declared them to be true, cancelled Zayed’s candidacy, and announced Nipun as the winner.
As Zayed’s candidacy was scrapped, the runner-up in the race was declared the winner, he said.
