The High Court has dismissed the second writ petition challenging the newly announced margin rules for the stock market. The court delivered its decision on Tuesday, noting that the second petition was unnecessary since a writ on the same matter is already pending.

The petitioner’s lawyer, Md. Kamal Hossain, said that two investors had filed this second writ earlier this week. The hearing was scheduled for Tuesday before a High Court bench comprising Justice Sikder Mahmudur Razi and Justice Raziuddin Ahmed. However, the court referred to the first writ filed by four investors last week and dismissed the new petition. Earlier, on Monday, a High Court bench had briefly imposed a ban on ‘forced sales’ from leveraged accounts, which was subsequently withdrawn.

According to the lawyer, no date has yet been set for the hearing of the first writ, filed on 9 November by four investors, including S.M. Iqbal Hossain. On 11 November, a bench comprising Justice Fahmida Kader and Justice Md. Ashik Hasan rejected the petition to suspend the rule, instead asking the government and the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) to explain why certain provisions of ‘Margin Rule 2025’ should not be declared unconstitutional or illegal. As of Tuesday, the relevant parties had not submitted any response.

The writ challenges sections 6(5), 6(6), 6(9), 7(5), 7(6), 7(7), 9, 10, and 11 of Margin Rule 2025. The petitioners claim that these rules violate the fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 27, 31, and 44 of the Constitution. Specifically, section 6(5) limits the tenure of margin loans to only one year, and section 6(6) empowers forced sale of shares if renewal is not done within 30 working days. Additionally, restrictions on margin loans for students, homemakers, and retirees are labeled as discriminatory in the petition.

Under the new rules, the margin loan ratio is set at 1:1, but it will be reduced to 1:0.5 if a company’s P/E ratio exceeds 20. If a company fails to distribute at least 5% dividend within 60 working days, its ‘B’ category shares will be removed from margin accounts. Section 11 sets a minimum annual investment of BDT 500,000 to qualify for a margin loan. The regulator BSEC has also imposed a six-month timeline for mandatory share sales to ensure compliance with these new rules.