Mayors of Rajshahi, Sylhet suspended again [ Tritiyo Matra News ]

Mayors of Rajshahi, Sylhet suspended again

Local April 03, 2017

The government on Sunday once again suspended mayors of Rajshahi and Sylhet immediately after they had resumed offices following court orders after two years.
The local government division issued fresh suspension orders on Rajshahi mayor Mohammad Mosaddek Hossain and Sylhet mayor Ariful Huq, both Bangladesh Nationalist Party leaders, as they went to their city corporation offices on the day.
‘The mayors of Rajshahi and Sylhet have been suspended in keeping with the law. The government could do nothing but suspend them as the courts accepted fresh charges in criminal cases against them,’ LGRD and cooperatives minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain told New Age.
Meanwhile, Habiganj municipality mayor GK Gaus was also suspended again, 10 days after he resumed the office on Sunday after 27 months of suspension.
A letter signed by local government division deputy secretary Muhammad Anwar Pasha said Rajshahi mayor Mohammad Mosaddek Hossain was suspended for being charged in a criminal case filed with Boalia police station in Rajshahi.
Another letter signed by deputy secretary Md Mahmudul Alam said Sylhet mayor Ariful Huq was suspended as a supplementary charge sheet was accepted against him in a criminal case pending with a special tribunal in Sunamganj.
Both the mayors were elected with backing of BNP in 2013.
Although Ariful could sit in his chair of mayor for a while, Mossaddek could not even enter the mayor’s office in Rajshahi as he found his office locked on Sunday morning.
According to the circular, Ariful was suspended following his indictment in a case on March 22.
The government also suspended Mossaddek as a court accepted charges against him in another case, the circular said.
On March 13, the High Court put a six-month embargo on a government order that threw Sylhet mayor Ariful out of his office after he was accused in the former finance minister Shah AMS Kibria murder case.
Earlier, on January 7, 2015 Ariful was suspended by the LGRD ministry after he was arrested and sent to jail on December 30, 2014 in connection with the murder case.
He moved the High Court on March 11.
New Age correspondent in Sylhet reported that the Nagar Bhaban sources said that the government had suspended Arif again for his involvement in the grenade attack on a rally of former Awami League presidium member Suranjit Sengupta.
On Sunday morning, Arif accompanied by the party leaders and local elites started to walk towards the Nagar Bhaban from his Kumarpara residence.
The SCC councilors, officials and employees welcomed Arif with floral wreaths when he reached there at around 11-15am.
‘I was kept detached from the mass people for 27 months without any offence,’ Arif said in his reaction immediately after resuming the office.
It was proved through the HC verdict given in my favour that suspending an elected peoples’ representative was also an anti-people action.
Habiganj mayor Gaus has been suspended for his alleged involvement with a grenade attack on a rally of former Awami League presidium member Suranjit Sengupta, according to officials.
In January 2015, he was suspended for first time. Later in 2016, he was elected mayor again contesting from jail.
Meanwhile, on May 07, 2015, the government suspended Rajshahi mayor Mosaddek for his alleged involvement in crimes including murder.
On March 5, the Supreme Court upheld a High Court verdict that declared his suspension illegal.
New Age correspondent in Rajshahi reported that Mosaddek found his office locked when he went there to resume his duties on Sunday.
‘What do I say? I am not being allowed to sit in my office. And even if they open the lock now I will not go in. I will request law enforcers to first thoroughly search the office and only then will I go in,’ said Mosaddek.