The Supreme Court yesterday adjourned till May 8 for hearing an appeal filed against the High Court verdict that declared illegal the seventh amendment to the constitution that had legitimised the military rule by HM Ershad.

A seven-member bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice ABM Khairul Haque, fixed the date after a brief hearing on the appeal filed by one Siddique Ahmed of Chittagong, who earlier challenged the seventh amendment to the constitution.

He recently filed the appeal with the SC, seeking bail in the case.

On August 26 last year, the HC delivered the verdict following a writ petition filed by Siddique, who was convicted and sentenced to life-term imprisonment by a martial law court in a murder case in 1986.

Siddique in his writ petition challenged the legality of the seventh amendment that had ratified the proclamation of martial law and other regulations, orders and instructions by Ershad between March 24,1982, and November 10,1986.

The petitioner also contested his murder conviction in 1986 by a martial law court, and sought an order for retrial.