Police probe to never end if prior permission is required to arrest gov employees: HC 

The High Court in the full text of its verdict has made an observation that if the provision of prior permission for the arrest of government employees is maintained, the investigation of the case against them will never end.

All 17 pages of the full text of the verdict were published on the website of the Supreme Court on Saturday.

On 25 August, the HC bench of Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Miah and Justice Kazi Md Ejarul Haque Akondo declared the controversial provision of the Public Service Act-2018 unconstitutional, which had mandated law enforcers to seek permission from the government to arrest public service holders in any criminal case against them.

In the verdict, the High Court observed, "Furthermore, in our country, it is a common practice that investigation of a criminal case takes a long time, even years together to complete so if that provision remains in place, as it stands, then there will have no ending of investigation of any criminal cases filed against the government servants. However, whatever is discussed and observed hereinabove is all relating to consequence if section 41(1) of the Public Service Act 2018 is given effect which involves factual aspects."

On 1 September, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court (SC) stayed the High Court (HC) verdict that scrapped prior permission to arrest government officials.

The full bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique, passed the stay order. The court also adjourned the appeal hearing till 23 October.