A writ petition was filed yesterday with the High Court (HO, challenging the legality of some provisions of Emergency Powers Ordinance (EPO) 2007 and Emergency Power Rules (EPR) 2007 that deny people’s right to bail in cases filed under these provisions and rules.

Former caretaker government adviser and Ain o Salish Kendra Executive Director Sultana Kamal, Daily New Age Editor Nurul Kabir and Dhaka University Assistant Professor Sheikh Hafizur Rahman

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Karzon jointly filed the petition as public interest litigation.

The petitioners prayed to the HC for issuing a rule upon the government to explain why those provisions and rules should not be declared ultra vires and legally ineffective. They also urged the court to stay operation of these rules.

An HC division bench headed by Justice Nazmun Ara Sultana may hear the petition next week.

The president promulgated the Emergency Powers Ordinance 2007 on January 12, 2007 aiming at ensuring security of the state and its people, protecting law and order and keeping economic ictififleS" unhindered.

In light of the ordinance, the caretaker government issued the EPR on January 13.

The writ petition challenged the legality of sections 3(3) (Kha) and 3(4) of the EPO and rules 11(3), 19(Gha), 19(Uma) of the EPR. Secretaries to the law ministry' and home ministry were made respondents in the writ petition.

The EPO sections provide death penalty and life-term imprisonment with fine for violating these provisions and also any other rules with retrospective effect.

As per rule 11(3) of the EPR, if any court convicts a person for committing corruption, no other court can grant bail to the convict or stay the conviction order until the appeal filed by the convict Against the order i5 disposed of.

The two other EPR rules provide that an accused cannot pray for bail or any kind of redress with the court or tribunal during the period

of investigation or enquiry of the offence committed by the accused.

The petitioners said these provisions are against the fundamental structure of the country's constitution.

The petition said all these provisions of the EPO and the EPR suffer from "unreasonableness and bad faith".

"Since the primary object of the Emergency Powers Ordinance, 2007 is to secure public safety and interest, the government must not take away the right to bail which forms part and parcel of public interest and state security and the impugned rules by way of taking away rights to bail, revision, review and appeal have been contributing against the public interest and security for which the rules should be declared void," the petition said.