HC rejects writ on renewal of Odhikar’s registration

The High Court (HC) has dismissed a writ petition which was filed seeking its directives on the renewal of rights organisation Odhikar's registration.

A High Court bench comprising Justice Md Khasruzzaman and Justice Md Iqbal Kabir passed the order on Wednesday (27 July).

Lawyer Ruhul Amin Bhuiyan stood in favour of the application in the court. Deputy Attorney General Kazi Mainul Islam represented the state.

According to the writ petition, the rights organisation "Odhikar", established on 10 October, 1994, applied to the Director General of the NGO Affairs Bureau for renewal of registration on 25 September, 2014.

However, after not getting a response to this petition, the organisation filed a writ in the High Court in 2019, challenging the inaction in renewing the registration. On 13 May of that year, the High Court issued a ruling on the hearing. The ruling sought to know why the inaction in granting the petition filed in 2014 would not be outside the statutory authority and why registration in accordance with the law should not be ordered.

Meanwhile, on 5 June this year, the Bureau of NGO Affairs rejected the application of "Odhikar". It then filed a supplementary appeal against that decision.

The rights body had applied for 10 years extension of its registration to the NGO Bureau after its registration expired in 2015.

In an order issued, the NGO Bureau said the registration of "Odhikar" has been cancelled for various reasons including engaging in activities that tarnish the image of the country in the international arena.

The reasons for the cancellation of registration include - not providing information required for registration and non-payment of increased fees and VAT imposed under the new law, no response or explanation for objections to eight financial audit reports of foreign-funded projects, creating anti-state issues on its website (odhikar.org), and not responding appropriately to intelligence report on inconsistencies in financial transactions in three projects.

In 2013, Odhikar Secretary Adilur Rahman Khan was arrested in connection with publishing a report on casualties during a crackdown on a Hefajat-e-Islam rally on 5 May the same year.