Hearing on Dr Yunus' plea against charge-framing for labour law violation on Tuesday

The court has fixed 18 July (Tuesday) to hold the hearing on Dr Muhammad Yunus' petition seeking cancellation of charge-framing against him in the judicial court for violating the labour laws.

A High Court bench of Justice Md Ruhul Quddus and Justice Ashish Ranjan Das yesterday said Dr Yunus' case was not an ordinary one, so the lawyers should come with full preparation to present all the precedents in this regard. If the hearing is not conducted properly, the media will write about it, said sources at the court.

On 21 June, four people, including Dr Yunus, chairman of Grameen Telecom, appealed to the High Court against the order regarding charge-framing in the labour law violation case. The other three applicants were Grameen Telecom's former managing director Ashraful Hasan, director Noor Jahan Begum and Md Shah Jahan.

On 9 September 2021, a labour inspector of the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments filed the case against Dr Yunus. On 6 June, the judge of Dhaka's Third Labour Court framed charges against four people including Dr Yunus in that case.

Meanwhile, a four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by the chief justice fixed 23 July for hearing Dr Yunus' appeal to suspend the High Court's verdict that directed him to pay Tk12 crore tax on donations.

The Appellate Division set the date for hearing the case when Dr Yunus' lawyer on record Taufiq Islam appealed to the court yesterday for more time.

On 31 May, the High Court dismissed the three income tax reference cases filed by Dr Yunus challenging the validity of the National Board of Revenue's notice demanding tax of Tk12 crore. As a result, Dr Yunus was ordered to pay Tk12 crore to the National Board of Revenue. Later, he appealed to the chamber court against the verdict, but the judgement was not suspended there either.