The Supreme Court yesterday stayed for six weeks the High Court verdict that declared the existing warrant of precedence illegal.

Md Muzammel Hossain, chamber judge of the Appellate Division, passed the order in response to Attorney General Mahbubey Alam's petition for a stay on the HC verdict.

The chamber judge asked the government to file a regular leave-to-appeal petition within the six weeks.

In its verdict on February 4, the HC directed the government to issue a new warrant of precedence, an order that determines precedence in terms of ranks of officials in the executive, legislative and judicial organs of the state.

It said the district judges and equivalent judicial officers must be given precedence over secretaries and chiefs of the armed forces.

The attorney general yesterday told The Daily Star that the SC stay means the existing warrant of precedence will remain in force.

During hearing on the petition, he told the court that by placing the district judges' position above that of the army, navy and air force chiefs, the HC ruling had created an abnormal situation.

He said the district judges are no constitutional office-holders; they are the servants of the republic.

If the HC verdict remains in operation, continuity of the precedence in the offices of the republic would be damaged, argued the chief law officer of the state.

Rokanuddin Mahmud, counsel for District Judge Md Ataur Rahman who challenged the order of precedence, said the HC had delivered the verdict legally and rightly.