Dhaka: The election of Bangladesh Bar Council, the central body of all the lawyers, will be held on 13 August, declared the Appellate division of the Supreme Court.

The division also ordered attorney general Mahbube Alam and bar council general secretary Justice Altaf Hossain to issue voter list by 12 July. 

A four-member HC bench headed by Chief Justice SK Sinha on Thursday fixed the date after a hearing on an appeal petition filed against the suspension of the bar council election. The other three judges of the bench are Nazmun Ara Sultana, Syed Mahmud Hossain, and Hassan Foyez Siddique.

The tenure of present committee of the council will be over on 30 May. The committee will sustain till the election, said the Supreme Court order.

Earlier, on 21 May, High Court ordered to postpone the election of Bangladesh Bar Council for three months.

The court also issued a rule asking as to why the Bar Council Act 2003 would not be declared illegal and the Bar Council election 2015 would not be cancelled.

A High Court bench comprising Justice Kazi Reza-Ul Haque and Justice Abu Taher Mohammad Saifur Rahman issued the order in response to a writ petition filed by lawyer Yunus Ali Akand for public interest on 17 May.

The Bar Council Election was rescheduled to be held on 27 May.

Earlier, the election was scheduled to be held on 20 May, but was postponed in a council meeting due to an appeal.

The Bar Council election usually takes place in three years interval.

Bar Council runs comprising with 15 members where the Attorney General holds the post of Bar Council chairman as ex-officio.

And the rest 14 members are elected by the direct votes from the lawyers or advocates. Out of the 14 elected members, one becomes elected vice-chairman.