The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has upheld a High Court verdict that scrapped all the proceedings of five cases filed under labor law against Nobel Laureate Professor Dr Muhammad Yunus, who is currently the chief adviser to the interim government.
A three-member Appellate Division bench, led by Ashfaqul Islam, dismissed a leave to appeal petition filed by the state, challenging the HC verdict. On October 24, the High Court had canceled all proceedings of the five cases and another defamation case filed against Yunus.
Barrister Mustafizur Rahman Khan appeared for Yunus, while Additional Attorney General Aneek R. Haque represented the state during the hearing.
On October 24, a High Court bench comprising Justice AKM Asaduzzaman and Justice Syed Enayet Hossain issued a verdict canceling the proceedings of five labour law cases and one defamation case after hearing five petitions filed by Yunus challenging the legality of the cases.
Notably, when the separate five cases were filed in the labor court against Dr Yunus, he was the Chairman of Grameen Telecommunications. These cases were filed in 2019, raising allegations of employee dismissals related to the proposed trade union.