Shawdesh desk:

The Appellate  Division on Thursday fined lawyer Abdul Aziz Khan for wasting time of the court by filing pointless petition  challenging the legality of  the election of Mohammad Shahabuddin as president of Bangladesh.

A three judges’ bench chaired by chief justice Hasan Foez Siddique fimed the lawyer Tk one lakh after dismissing his petition seeking permission to appeal against a High court decision.

Attorney general AM Amin Uddin opposed the leave to appeal petition while Aziz Khan appeared for hearing in person.

On March 15, the High Court summarily rejected two writ petitions that challenged the election of Mohammad Shahabuddin as president, stating that the post of president does not fall under the service of the republic.

The bench of Justice Md Khasruzzaman and Justice Md Iqbal Kabir had passed the order after hearing two petitions, of which one was filed by lawyer MA Aziz Khan and the other by Abdul Momen Chowdhury.

Referring to a High Court judgement delivered in 1997, the court, however, had observed that the president’s post belonged to ‘the office of profit’ but was not under the service of the republic.

The court also observed that the petitioners could not refer to any article of the constitution barring the election of Shahabuddin as president.

The court also observed that the petitioners could not refer to any article of the constitution which bars the election of Shahabuddin as president.

Aziz Khan later appealed to the SC against the High Court order.

On March 7, Aziz Khan filed the writ petition challenging the legality of the process of the election of Mohammad Shahabuddin as president of Bangladesh.

The lawyer also challenged the issuance of the gazette notification that declared Shahabuddin president-elect and sought stay of the operation of the notification.

Shahabuddin, former commissioner of the Anti-Corruption Commission, cannot be the president of the republic as section 9 of the Anti-Corruption Commission Act disqualifies ACC commissioners from any office of profit in the service of the republic and the office of the president is an office of profit, Aziz argued.

The Election Commission on February 13 declared Shahabuddin president-elect of Bangladesh.

Shahabuddin, , also a retired judge, was elected unopposed as the candidate nominated by the ruling Awami League.