The newly-elected office-bearers of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) from the Awami League-backed Ainjibi Samannaya Parishad yesterday took charge of the bar amid protest from a section of pro-BNP lawyers.

A group of lawyers of the BNP-backed Jatiyatabadi Oikya Panel chanted slogans when newly-elected SCBA President Barrister Rokanuddin Mahmud and other office-bearers from the Samannaya Parishad went to the takeover ceremony at the SCBA auditorium yesterday.

The Parishad swept the SCBA polls.

Pro-BNP lawyers said the

SEE PAGE 11 COL 8 SCBA committee

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newly-elected executive committee of the SCBA cannot take over since a Dhaka court yesterday issued an injunction on it following a case they filed challenging its election.

They alleged that 513 lawyers cast votes both in the SCBA elections and Dhaka Bar polls in violation of the Bar Council Amendment Act, 2003.

Judge Mohammad Anisur Rahman of the Court of Fourth Assistant Judge restrained the new SCBA committee from taking over in an order following a declaration suit filed by three defeated candidates in the elections held on March 28 and 29, pro-BNP lawyers claimed.

But Rokanuddin said he knew nothing about any court injunction. "I have received no papers relating to the case and still don't know who filed the case and how and when it was filed," he told The Daily Star.

Dr M Zahir, who was the Oikya Panel presidential runner, also expressed ignorance about the case challenging the election. "I do not know anything about the case and who filed it. I was not consulted," he said last night.

"I have heard of double voting in the elections, whichindeed took place."