The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court (SC) on Sunday (August 20, 2023) ordered to continue the trial proceedings after dismissing a petition submitted by Nobel laureate and Chairman of Grameen Communications, Dr Muhammad Yunus, and three others in a case over violation of labour law. A regular and full bench consisting of seven justices of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique passed the order after hearing the petition, said the defendants’ counsel, Barrister Abdullah Al Mamun. On September 9, 2021, Labour Inspector Arifuzzaman, of the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments, filed the case with Dhaka's 3rd Labour Court. Read: Labour law violation case: SC orders disposal of rule on charge framing against Dr Yunus within two weeks Other accused in the case are: Ashraful Hasan, Managing Director of Grameen Telecom, and its directors, Nurjahan Begum and Shahjahan. According to the case, in an inspection visit to Grameen Telecom, inspectors of the department found that 101 workers and staff who were supposed to be permanent were not made so. No participation fund and welfare fund were formed for them and five percent of the company’s profit was not provided to the workers following the law. Read: Appellate Division orders Dr Yunus to pay NBR Tk 12 crore tax on donations Later on December 7, Prof Yunus filed a petition with the High Court seeking scrapping of the case. On December 12, HC stayed the procedure of a case for six months. On June 6 this year, the Labour Court ordered the trial in the case through framing chargesheets against the accused. Later, Dr Yunus filed a petition with the HC seeking cancellation of the charge framing order. Subsequently, on August 8, the HC rejected the petition. Read more: Supreme Court to hear Dr Yunus's petition on July 23 Later, the Nobel laureate filed the petition with the Appellate Division seeking cancellation of the charge framing order. The division led by the chief justice cleared the petition after hearing it on Sunday.

The Appellate Division on Monday upheld a High Court order that stayed five cases against Nobel Laureate and Chairman of Grameen Communications Dr Muhammad Yunus for violating the labour law.