The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Tuesday restored Jamaat-e-Islami's appeal challenging the High Court verdict that scrapped its registration as a political party with the Election Commission (EC).
A four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed restored the appeal that was dismissed for non appearance of lawyers on behalf of Jamaat on November 19 in 2023.
While talking to the Daily Observer, Barrister Ehsan Abdullah Siddique, counsel for Jamaat, said the apex court restored the appeal after condoning the delay of 286 days on the grounds that the party could not be able to file appeal within the stipulated time and could not take part in the hearing due to many obstacles including hartal, closure of party office, its Ameer-party chief was in jail and senior lawyer AJ Mohammad Ali was seriously ill. Considering all these grounds, the apex court condoned the delay and reinstated the appeal of Jamaat-e-Islami, he added.
After coming out from the court, Advocate Mohammad Shishir Manir, one of the counsel for Jamaat, told reporters that the Appellate Division would now fix a date for holding complete hearing of the appeal on merit.
"If the Appellate Division allows the appeal after holding hearing on it, Jamaat-e-Islami will get back its registration with the Election Commission and will participate in the elections," he added.
In response to a query, he said that they have applied to restore the appeal, which had been dismissed for default. The Appellate Division could not give such judgment without holding a complete hearing on the matter as it was related with the constitution, Manir said.
Lawyers Ehsan Abdullah Siddique, Shishir Manir placed arguments on behalf of the Jamaat while a number of pro-Jamaat lawyers, including its leader Md Jashim Uddin Sarker, Matiur Rahman Akond, Gias Uddin Mintu, Dr Israk Chowdhury Siddiqi were present at the court during the hearing.
Earlier, on 1 September, Shishir submitted the appeal petition against Jamaat's registration cancellation to the apex court on behalf of the party's Secretary General Miah Golam Parwar, seeking necessary directives.
On August 1, 2013, the High Court delivered the verdict cancelling the registration of Jamaat as a political party. The EC issued a circular in this regard on 7 December, 2018.
On November 19 in 2023, the Appellate Division, led by the then Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan dismissed Jamaat's appeal for default as the defendants' principal lawyer AJ Mohammad Ali and Advocate-On-Record Zainul Abedin failed to appear before the court on that day and pleaded for time.
Four days before the fall, the ousted Awami League government on August 1 banned all political activities of Jamaat and its various wings, including Islami Chhatra Shibir, under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2009.
The interim government on August 28 lifted the ban on Jamaat and Shibir.
