The High Court yesterday scrapped the Labour Appellate Tribunal’s verdict that justified the demand of 106 former workers of Grameen Kalyan seeking a part of its net profit earned from 2006 to 2013.
The HC observed that the tribunal has no jurisdiction to give an interpretation on whether the workers of Grameen Kalyan are entitled to part of its profit under the Labour Act.
Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus is the founder and chairman of Grameen Kalyan, a charitable organisation.
The labour court can give an interpretation under the law, said the bench of Justice Zafar Ahmed and Justice Khandaker Diliruzzaman.
It delivered the verdict after hearing a writ petition filed by Grameen Kalyan challenging the tribunal’s judgment.
Petitioner’s lawyer Abdullah Al Mamun said Grameen Kalyan need not to pay any profit money to its workers following the HC judgement.
The Labour Appellate Tribunal had declared the demand valid going beyond its jurisdiction as it is only empowered to give an interpretation if there is any dispute over any contract between the company and the workers under section-231 of the Labour Act-2006, he told The Daily Star.
But no contract was signed between the Grameen Kalyan and its workers, and therefore, the judgement delivered by the tribunal on April 3 is beyond the law, Mamun said.
The demand of 106 retired workers is illegal as Grameen Kalyan is merely a charitable organisation and it is not involved in industrial activities, he added.
Workers’ lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan told this correspondent that his clients would appeal against the HC verdict.
LAW VIOLATION CASE
In another case filed against Yunus and three top officials of Grameen Telecom over violation of the labour law, the defence made their arguments in a Dhaka court for the third consecutive day yesterday.
Sheikh Merina Sultana, chairman of the Third Labour Court of Dhaka, set December 6 for the next hearing in the case as the defence lawyers could not complete their arguments, Khaja Tanvir Ahmed, a lawyer for Yunus, told this newspaper.
Yunus, also the chairman of Grameen Telecom, and its top officials Ashraful Hassan, Nurjahan Begum and Mohammad Shahjahan appeared before the court yesterday.
Our court correspondent contributed to this report.
