A High Court bench rule on police efforts to gather personal details of landlords and tenants in Dhaka has to be disposed of by May 31.
The order was issued Thursday by the chief justice-led appeals bench following a petition by the State.
The court has forwarded the matter to the High Court bench of justices Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury and Md Iqbal Kabir.
"A High Court bench had rejected a petition on it and another bench issued a rule. There can't be two decisions on one matter and that's what we pointed out," said Deputy Attorney General Ekramul Haque Tutul.
The top court ordered the HC bench, which had scrapped a plea on the matter, to dispose of the issue, added Tutul, who assisted Attorney General Mahbubey Alam in the hearing.
The Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) has distributed "registration forms" to house owners for collecting details, along with photograph, of their tenants.
Besides personal information like date of birth, passport number, the police have also sought details of tenants' family members and employees, like household workers and car drivers.
The move was initiated after several militant hideouts, equipped with bomb-making facilities, were found in several houses in the capital.
Police personnel have been distributing the form carrying the DMP's logo, and collecting them later.
DMP chief Asaduzzaman Mia had said it was prompted purely by 'security concerns' but it raised the spectre of police harassment among the people.     ?bdnews24.com