Shawdesh desk:

The Appellate Division on Sunday deferred for a day the hearing of a government’s appeal filed challenging the High Court’s judgement that cancelled a provision of the Public Servants Act 2018 that bars the law enforcement agencies from arresting accused public servants.

A five-member bench, chaired by chief justice Hasan Foez Siddique, rescheduled the hearing to Monday as lawyer Manzill Murshid who earlier sought to uphold the High Court verdict, prayed for adjournment of the hearing to prepare his argument.

Earlier, on September 1, the Appellate Division after hearing the government’s appeal stayed the High Court’s verdict for October 23.

The Appellate Division had also asked the government to file a regular petition seeking permission to appeal against the High Court’s verdict.

‘We get an impression that by way of the rule, the government officials have been given certain protection while discharging their official duties form undue harassment in criminal prosecution but in our administration of Criminal Justice System, the police have been empowered to arrest an accused without warrant if the accused commits cognizable office, so incorporation of section 41(1) in the Public Servant Act, 2018 on the face of it is fragrant violation of the Article 27 and 31 of the our constitution not to speak inconsistent thereof,’ the High Court observed in the verdict.

The bench of Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Miah and Justice Kazi Md Ejarul Haque Akondo issued the verdict on August 25 after the final hearing on a public interest litigation writ petition filed by Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh in 2019 challenging the constitutionality of the provision of the act that came into effect on October 1, 2019.

Senior lawyer Manzill Murshid appeared for HRPB.