The High Court (HC) on Tuesday stayed a labour appellate tribunal order that allowed paying a five percent dividend to 106 sacked employees and staff of Nobel Laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus-owned Grameen Kalyan for six months.

A bench of HC Justice Zafar Ahmed and Justice Md ANM Bashir Ullah passed the order after hearing a petition.

The court also issued a rule asking the authorities concerned to explain as to why the appellate tribunal order won’t be declared illegal.

Senior lawyer AF Hasan Arif and Barrister Abdulllah Al-Mamun stood for Yunus while Advocates Khurshid Alam Khan and Golam Rabbani Sharif represented the plaintiff during the hearing in the court.

Counsel Rabbani said on April 3 this year the appellate tribunal ordered to pay the five percent dividend to the sacked 106 employees and staff of the organization as per Labour Act.

Later, the Nobel laureate submitted a petition challenging the tribunal order, he said, adding that the sacked staff and others used to work for the organization from 2006 to 2013.

Later, they were fired on different grounds.

The staff and employees were deprived of any dividend during the period (2006-2013), he said, adding that there is a provision of paying five percent dividend for welfare of labours from the day of execution of the Labour Act.

The sacked employees and others first served a legal notice to the organization with an appeal to be paid the dividend but the authority didn’t pay heed to it.

Later, a case was filed with a labour court in this connection.