40-minute drama over Ducsu: Chamber Court stays HC order to postpone polls
With the stay in place, there is now no legal bar to holding the election, Advocate Mohammad Shishir Monir
In a turn of events, the Chamber Court of the Appellate Division stayed the High Court order that had postponed the Dhaka University Central Students' Union (Ducsu) election until 30 October.
The order comes within 40 minutes of the HC order, following which Advocate Mohammad Shishir Monir, representing Dhaka University, filed an appeal.
"With the stay in place, there is now no legal bar to holding the election," Shishir Monir told The Business Standard this afternoon (1 September).
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According to the announced schedule, the election of the central committee of Ducsu and the hall unions was scheduled to be held on 9 September.
Justice Farah Mahbub passed the order on Monday (1 September), just after the High Court bench of Justice Md Habibul Ghani and Justice Sk Tahsin Ali ordered the postponement order in response to a writ petition challenging the validity of a candidate's nomination.
Earlier today, the High Court postponed the Dhaka University Central Students' Union (Ducsu) election until 30 October.
According to the announced schedule, the election of the central committee of Ducsu and the hall unions was scheduled to be held on 9 September.
When asked about the matter, Ducsu's Chief Returning Officer Professor Md Jashim Uddin told The Business Standard, "We still do not know who filed the writ or on what grounds. I am looking into it."
After nearly six years, the Ducsu election had been finally set to take place on 9 September.
What the writ stated
On Sunday (31 August), a writ petition was filed with the High Court challenging the nomination of SM Farhad, general secretary candidate from the Islami Chhatra Shibir-backed panel in Dhaka University Central Students' Union (Ducsu) elections.
The petition was submitted by BM Fahmida Alam, liberation war and democratic movements affairs secretary candidate from the left alliance panel, alleging that Farhad was involved with the politics of the now banned Bangladesh Chhatra League.
It also questioned how he could now contest the election under a Shibir-backed panel.
In the petition, Fahmida prayed to the High Court to cancel Farhad's nomination, said Advocate Saddam Hossen, a lawyer for Dhaka University.
Yesterday, after the petition was filed, Farhad took to his verified Facebook page and wrote, "Compared to the long-standing practice of various parties spreading misinformation about me through edited photos and videos, your legal initiative is a relatively better approach."
After hearing both sides, the High Court directed the Dhaka University authorities to investigate SM Farhad's previous affiliation with the Chhatra League.
The court ordered the investigation report be submitted by 21 October.
Advocate Mohammad Shishir Monir represented Dhaka University in court, while Barrister Jyotirmoy Barua argued for the petitioner.
Following the order from the Chamber Court, DU's lawyer Shishir Monir told reporters that in the appeal filed in the chamber judge's court seeking a stay on the High Court's order, it was stated that one candidate of DUCSU had filed a writ petition, but there was no request to suspend the election in that petition.
However, the High Court issued an order to halt the election process, he said.
"Moreover, the authorities believe that suspending the election after everything has been finalised could provoke reactions among students and would not be beneficial for the university," he added.
"Our appeal was accepted, and the chamber judge stayed the High Court order and instructed us to file a CMP appeal. This will be submitted soon and a full hearing will take place," he added.
According to the preliminary list of candidates, 48 candidates are running for the vice president post, 19 for general secretary and 28 for assistant general secretary.
Including other positions, a total of 462 candidates have been declared eligible to contest. Notably, Ducsu has 28 posts including VP, GS and AGS.
On the other hand, the final voter list shows a total of 39,775 registered voters, with 20,873 male and 18,902 female students eligible to vote in this election.
