Steps have been initiated to hold the long-stalled elections of the Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry following the removal of legal obstacles.
In a formal move, the chamber administrator has written to the chairman of the Election Management Board seeking immediate steps to organise the postponed polls in line with the High Court verdict and subsequent legal opinion.
Dated Sunday, the letter from Chittagong Chamber Administrator Mohammad Nurullah Nuri requested initiation of the process to hold the chamber elections that were earlier postponed following court orders.
Reference was made in the letter to a judgment delivered by the High Court Division of the Supreme Court in Writ Petition No 16976 of 2025 on 11 December.
A copy of the relevant High Court order reached the chamber on 7 January, it said.
After receipt of the verdict, a legal opinion was sought from Advocate Mohammad Kashem Chowdhury, Public Prosecutor of the Chittagong Judge Court, to clarify the legal position regarding the elections.
According to the legal opinion, there is no impediment to holding elections for 24 director posts while retaining six posts allocated to the Town Association and Trade Group categories.
On the basis of the opinion, the letter asked Election Management Board Chairman and Chattogram Divisional Director of the Local Government Department Monowara Begum to take necessary steps to arrange the elections.
Efforts to contact Chamber Administrator Mohammad Nurullah Nuri and Election Management Board Chairman Monowara Begum for comments were unsuccessful.
Originally scheduled for November 1, the Chittagong Chamber elections were suspended by a court order on October 30, two days before the polls.
The suspension followed a complaint filed by businessman Mohammad Belal with the FBCCI Alternative Dispute Resolution Tribunal seeking exclusion of members from the Town Association and Trade Group categories, court sources said.
Alongside the complaint, Belal also filed a writ petition in the High Court on the same issue, the sources said.
After hearing the writ on October 22, the High Court issued a rule to conduct the elections excluding the two categories and stayed a directive issued by the Ministry of Commerce on September 4.
Subsequently, the Ministry of Commerce appealed against the order, after which the court on October 30 suspended the elections for two weeks and directed the concerned High Court bench to resolve the dispute.
The ministry directive had stated that trade groups and town associations whose memberships were renewed in line with the rules would be eligible to participate in the elections, court documents show.
Later, the High Court quashed the earlier rule, lifting the stay on the ministry directive and removing all legal obstacles to participation by members of the two categories.
Under the chamber constitution, 12 directors are elected from the general category, six from the associate category and three each from the Town Association and Trade Group categories.
The chamber president and two vice-presidents are elected by votes of the elected directors.
