The High Court (HC) on Tuesday ordered the authorities to give a Machine Readable Passport (MRP) to Bangladesh Nationalist Party Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi within seven days of getting the copy of its verdict.

A HC-bench led by Quamrul Islam Siddique and Sheikh Hasan Arif passed the order after concluding the hearing on a writ petition filed by the BNP leader.

Advocate Joynul Abedin stood for the BNP leader during the hearing, reports UNB.

On December 10 last, Rizvi filed an application with the Department of Immigration and Passports (DIP) seeking an MRP.

The passport was supposed to be issued on December 31.

On May 29, Rizvi filed the writ petition with the High Court as he did not get the passport even in five months after filing the application.

On June 7, the HC issued a rule upon the government asking it to explain why Rizvi would not be given a MRP.

The hearing on the rule started on August 24.