DHAKA: To the cheers of Amar Desh journalists, the Supreme Court Sunday endorsed the High Court verdict halting the cancellation of the declaration of the Bengali daily.

Earlier, the chamber judge of the Appellate Division had issued an order of stay on the HC order that had stayed the government decision to cancel the newspaper’s declaration and hence close down its publication.

The six-member full bench of the Appellate Division led by Chief Justice Mohammed Fazlul Karim now upheld the HC order following a petition filed by the Amar Desh authority challenging the chamber court’s stay order.

The government cancelled the declaration of the staunchly pro-opposition daily newspaper on June 1 following a complaint filed by its publisher Hashmat Ali Hashu as a result of bickering within the house.

On June 10, the High Court put off for three months the government action canceling the declaration of the daily Amar Desh, and the journalists resumed its publication.

Later on June 15, chamber judge SK Sinha of the Appellate Division stayed for four weeks the High Court order following a government petition. And the newspaper again stopped coming up.   

The full bench of the Appellate Division Sunday vacated the chamber judge`s order and upheld the HC decision, thereby paving the way for resurrection of the newspaper.

Lawyer for the Amar Desh barrister Moudud Ahmed MP told reporters that the apex court cleared the way for publishing the daily and so “there is now no legal bar to publishing the daily again”.

“It is the victory of the press and media,” said the BNP leader and ex-law minister.

Barrister Rafiqul Haque, another lawyer for the Amar Desh, said it is not the matter of Mahmudur Rahman, the acting editor of the daily Amar Desh. “But the Appellate Division passed the order on the grounds of Article 39 of the Constitution that grants freedom of the press.”

Government counsel Additional Attorney-General MK Rahman during the hearing contended that nobody could be made publisher of a daily by virtue of the court’s directive. “As Hashmat Ali resigned as the publisher of the daily seven months ago, now who will publish the newspaper? he asked.

Acting Editor of the daily Mahmudur Rahman was arrested from its office in the early hours of June 2 amid a row over the declaration issue.

BDST: 1520HRS, JULY 18, 2010