Dhaka, Nov. 9 -- The High Court has suspended the recently increased service fees at Chittagong Port for one month, following a long-standing dispute over the hike.

On Sunday, a bench comprising Justice Kazi Zinat Hoque and Justice Aynun Nahar Siddiqua issued the order and a rule during a preliminary hearing of a writ petition.

The Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) had published a gazette on Sept 14 raising different service fees by up to 41 percent, effective from the following day. A related notice was subsequently issued on Sept 30.

On Oct 20, the Bangladesh Maritime Law Society filed a writ petition in the High Court challenging the validity of both the Sept 14 gazette and the Sept 30 notice.

Mohiuddin Abdul Kadir, lawyer for the pe...