Staff Reporter :
The High Court has ordered the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) to return the allotment of a residential hall seat to Imtiaz Hossain Rabbi, a civil engineering department student and Chhatra League’s central committee leader.
A High Court bench comprising Justice Md Khasruzzaman and Justice KM Zahid Sarwar issued the order on Monday after hearing a writ petition.
Now there is no bar for Imtiaz to live in the hall, following the order of the High Court.
Earlier, the BUET authority issued a notification of three points following the incident on campus on March 27. The hall seat of Imtiaz was cancelled by the authority following the notification.
Challenging the validity of the cancellation of the hall seat, advocate Harun Ur Rashid filed a writ petition on Thursday on behalf of Imtiaz.
Senior advocate Shah Manjurul Haque represented the petitioner’s side, while on behalf of the state, Assistant Attorney General Abul Kalam Khan and Taufiq Sajawal were present.
Manjurul Haque said, “The HC has issued a rule and suspended a part of the BUET notification. Now the applicant does not have any bar to live in the residential hall.”
On October 11, 2019, an ‘urgent notice’ was issued by the BUET authorities following the killing of BUET student Abrar Fahad.
“For the awareness of all concerned, it is hereby informed that all political organisations and their activities on the campus of this university have been banned as per the directive of the authorities,” it said. Subsequently, political activities on the campus were prohibited.
Nearly four years later, on the night of March 27, some leaders and activists of the Bangladesh Chhatra League entered the BUET campus and initiated political activities, triggering protests by students.
As part of the protest, the general students boycotted all academic activities, including the final term exams.
The protesting students claim that after the entry of ‘outsiders’ and the political meeting on March 27, the university administration cancelled the seat in the hall of Imtiaz Hossain, who is a member of the central committee of the Chhatra League.
Imtiaz filed a writ petition challenging the validity of the ‘urgent notice’.
On April 1, the High Court issued a ruling, suspending the activities outlined in the notice. As a result, the barrier to student politics at BUET was removed.
Subsequently, Imtiaz filed another writ petition to regain his seat at the BUET hall.
