STAR BUSINESS REPORT, Ctg

Chattogram’s premier trade body, the Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI), is once again facing uncertainty as its long-awaited election has been suspended following a directive from the High Court.

Although a new date of April 4 had been announced for the second time, Election Commissioner Monwara Begum declared it postponed due to “unavoidable circumstances.”

The development was confirmed in a press release issued to the media yesterday.

Business sources said a four-member full bench of the Supreme Court heard the matter of a dispute regarding the CCCI election on March 12.

The court directed that the dispute must be resolved by the Alternative Dispute Resolution Tribunal of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) by April 26, effectively suspending the April 4 election.

Previously, when the election date was first announced for November 1, 2025, the High Court had stayed the election on October 30, 2025, delaying the process by nearly five months.

On March 3, 2026, the CCCI declared April 4 as the new date for its biennial election, to be held at the World Trade Center in Agrabad. However, the High Court’s latest order blocked the process once again.

Lawyer Ashfakur Rahman, representing petitioner businessman Mohammad Belal, told The Daily Star, “The court has directed the FBCCI tribunal to deliver a decision on the dispute by April 26. It also instructed that the High Court’s latest