The High Court on Monday asked Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus and his three Grameen Telecom Company colleagues not to visit abroad without informing the Labour Appellate Tribunal which waits to hear their appeal against six months jail term in a labour law violation case.
On January 1, Dhaka Third Labour Court Tribunal convicted Yunus, chairman of Grameen Telecom, its former managing director Ashraful Hasan, and directors Nur Jahan Begum and Mohammad Shahjahan of labour law violation and sentenced them to simple imprisonment for six months in a case which drew criticism from different quarters as politically motivated.
The Labour Court also fined Yunus and his colleagues Tk 30 thousand each, or in default, 25 more days in jail.
The bench on Monday stayed Labour Appellate Tribunal’s order suspending until March 3 the execution of the labour court verdict that convicted and sentenced professor Yunus and his three associates.
The High Court observed that there was no need to stay the sentences of Yunus and others as the execution of the sentences would remain automatically suspended since the tribunal admitted their appeal for hearing.
The HC further observed that the tribunal exercised its power beyond jurisdiction as there is no precedence of staying the execution of conviction of a convict.
The Labour Appellate Tribunal passed the order after admitting the appeal of Professor Yunus and colleagues for hearing on March 3.
The bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Kazi Ebadoth Hossain on Monday also asked the Labour Appellate Tribunal to dispose of the appeal expeditiously.
The High Court, however, upheld the bail granted by the Tribunal to the four people until March 3.
The High Court passed the order after hearing a petition filed by the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments, challenging the order passed by the tribunal on January 28.
Yunus’s lawyer Abdullah Al Mamun opposed the fresh petition in the High Court against Yunus and his colleagues, saying that it is part of further harassment of the Nobel laureate.
The DIFE on Sunday filed a petition with the High Court, seeking an order to restrain Professor Yunus from visiting abroad as he has been convicted in a law violation case.
According to the case statement, the DIFE noticed several labour law violations during an inspection at the Grameen Telecom.
The violations include, failure to make jobs of 101 workers and employees permanent, not forming a workers’ participation fund and welfare fund, and failure to provide 5 per cent of the company’s dividend to workers.
Lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan appeared for the DIFE.
