The top court has said the stay order the High Court on the decision to scrap Zayed Khan’s candidacy in the Bangladesh Film Artistes’ Association election will remain halted.
The order came on Monday, when the Appellate Division disposed of the leave-to-petition appeal by actor Nipun Akter.
The six-member appeals bench led by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique also upheld the status quo order imposed by the chamber judge on the post of general secretary, restraining both Zayed and his rival Nipun.
The court said that both parties have said that the High Court has scheduled Tuesday to hear on the rule it issued on the matter earlier. “The matter has been disposed of and the chamber judge’s order remains valid,” it said.
After the High Court stayed the decision to scrap Zayed’s candidacy, Nipun challenged the decision, when Justice Obaidul Hassan of the Chamber Court issued the status quo order and forwarded the matter to the appeals bench for a hearing.
On February 7, the High Court stayed the election appellate board’s decision to cancel Zayed’s candidacy after hearing a petition by the actor.
The court also issued a rule asking why the board’s decision should not be declared illegal and gave the respondents a week to come up with explanations.
On February 5, the election appellate board disqualified Zayed’s candidacy on allegations of paying members to vote for him and of not adhering to the electoral code of conduct.
Nipun was declared the newly-elected general secretary of the film artistes’ body.
On January 29, Ilias Kanchan won the president’s post and Zayed Khan the general secretary post in the election. Nipun, who was defeated, fought the decision.
Following her complaint, Sohanur Rahman Sohan, chairman of the appeals board, cancelled Zayed’s candidacy after finding proof of vote-buying and announced Nipun as the winner.
