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Court order fails to make govt pay EC members

Shakhawat Liton
• Election commissioners are vexed at the government for not releasing their last 13 months' salaries even after the country's highest court ordered it to do so.
"We are confused as to why the government has not released our due salaries complying with the court's order," Election Commissioner M Munsef Ali told
The Daily Star yesterday.
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on July 10 reinforced an April-18 ruling of the High Court that declared the government's act illegal and directed it to release the duesalariesofthecommissioners.
The chief election commissioner (CEQ and his three colleagues are now mulling over serving a legal notice on the government.
"We ace thinking about the mat-
ter and may serve a legal notice on the government to comply with the court's order," Election Commissioner A K Mohammad Ali toldTlieDailyStar.
The salaries of the CEC and the three election commissioners since July last year have been held up following objections against their drawing salaries and pensions for previous jobs simultaneously. The office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) last year asked CEC M A Sayeed, and election commissioners Safiur Rahman, M Munsef Ali and Mohammad Ali to refund the pensions they had drawn in violation of the existing rules to the public exchequer. The office of the Comptroller General of Accounts (CGA) was later assigned to deal with the matter.
The commissioners on December 7 last filed a petition with the High Court challenging the legality of the government's instruction to withhold their salaries. The court on April 18 ruled the government's step as illegal.
Moving for the government, the Attorney General's office sought a stay order on the High Court's ruling. But the full bench of the Appellate Division led by Chief Justice J R Modassir Hussain rejected the appeal and asked the government to release the election commissioners' pays.
The election commissioners about one month ago submitted the necessary papers for their 11 months' salaries to the CGA office. But they are yet to receive any positive response.
The CGA office, however, claims it has
not yet received the court's order. "As we have not received any court order, we cannot give clearance to the election commissioners' salaries," CGA Faruk Mohammad Siddiqui told The Daily Star yesterday.
"We have tried to collect the court's order, but failed. Finally, we have requested the Election Commission to send us a copy of it. As soon as we get it we will give the clearance," the CGA promised.
The election commissioners apparently are also confused about who is responsible for clearing their salaries. Election Commissioner Mohammad Ali thinks the finance ministry and the CAG office are responsible for it, while the CAG office denies any such responsibility.
"At the beginning of this issue, the office of the CAG was involved in it, but it is no more so. The office of the CGA under the finance ministry is solely responsible for passing all kinds of bills including the salaries of the election commissioners," a senior official at the CAG office told The Daily Star yesterday preferring not to be named.