A heroic freedom fighter, who was dismissed from government job for selling government jute seeds at price higher than Tk 2.5 only finally regained his rights after long 39 years of legal battle in courts.

The victory of a freedom fighter finally came after The Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, dismissed the state’s review petition on Monday (June 26th). At the same time, the judgment of the High Court has been upheld to abolish all the penalties and give all the benefits in his service.

Obaidul Alam Akon, the freedom fighter lost his job in 1982 at the behest of a military junta court after just 11 years of independence.

The incident took place during Hossain Mohammad Ershad’s military rule.

Akon, a Jute extension assistant was accused for selling government jute seeds at a price of only two and a half Taka.

Obaidul Alam Akon was arrested on April 15, 1982.

After that, on September 27 of same  year, a military court of the Junta fired Akon and sentenced him to two months in jail and a fine of Tk 1,000.

Almost 30 years later, in 2012, Obaidul Alam Akon filed a writ petition in the High Court challenging the decision of the military court to dismiss him.

In that writ, instructions were sought to pay the entire salary-allowance with all the facilities from the time of dismissal to the time of retirement.

Following the hearing of this writ, on November 20, 2017, the High Court declared the sentence of Obaidul Alam illegal. The verdict directed him to pay all dues including salary and allowances till retirement from his job.

However, in 2018, the Department of Agricultural Extension appealed against the High Court’s verdict.

The Appellate Division gave its verdict on March 8, 2020 on the hearing of this appeal.

In that judgment, the part of the High Court judgment regarding the salary and allowance of Obaidul Alam Akan was upheld and the part relating to the declaration of invalidity of the sentence of the military court was removed (expunged).

However, the Department of Agricultural Extension further sought a review of the verdict.  But the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal too.

As per the verdict, the heroic freedom fighter will get back all the salaries and allowances of his working life.

Lawyer Prabir Niyogi appeared for Obaidul Alam Akon in the court. Additional Attorney General SK Morshed appeared for the state.