Interim Remedies in Bangladesh 2026: Attachment, Receivers, Ad Interim Orders, Rule Nisi and Motion Practice

Interim remedies Bangladesh courts grant: the 2026 map

Interim remedies Bangladesh courts grant decide more disputes than final judgments do. A suit over land, a money claim against a contractor or a writ against a regulator can take years to reach a decree, and by then the property may be sold, the bill paid out or the licence cancelled. What holds the position in the meantime is an interim order: an attachment, a receiver, a status quo direction, an injunction or the stay that comes with a High Court Division Rule. Knowing which remedy fits, how it is obtained and how quickly it can be lost is the core of litigation strategy.

This guide maps those remedies in one place: section 94 and the inherent power in section 151 of the Code of Civil Procedure 1908, attachment and arrest before judgment, receivers, the lesser-used parts of Order XXXIX, ad interim orders in the civil courts and the High Court Division, what a Rule Nisi is and how it ends, motion practice and affidavits, vacating interim orders, and the 2025 and 2026 changes that matter.

Summary: The interim remedies Bangladesh courts grant protect the subject matter of a case until the court decides it. In the civil courts they come mainly from section 94 and Orders XXXVIII, XXXIX and XL of the Code of Civil Procedure, backed by section 151. In the High Court Division they usually arrive with a Rule: the court calls on the other side to show cause and, in the same order, grants a stay or status quo for a fixed period. Each remedy has its own conditions, challenge route and way of ending.

Key point: An interim order is only as durable as the case behind it. When a Rule is discharged, made absolute or becomes infructuous, the stay or status quo granted with it is ordinarily vacated in the same judgment, and a High Court Division interim order is not even communicated until the requisites for service have been filed.

At a glance

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Table of Contents

Substantive and interim remedies Bangladesh law distinguishes

A substantive remedy is what the claimant ultimately wants: a declaration of title, recovery of possession, a money decree, specific performance, a permanent injunction or, in a writ, an order quashing an unlawful act. An interim remedy decides nothing about who is right; it keeps the dispute capable of a meaningful decision. The question is not "who owns the land?" but "what must happen to the land until the court can say who owns it?"

The tests differ accordingly. A court granting interim relief looks for a prima facie case, a real risk to the subject matter, the balance of convenience and the applicant's conduct. It does not try the suit. Most interim remedies Bangladesh litigants seek come from the Code of Civil Procedure 1908, from Article 102 of the Constitution in writ cases and, for commercial disputes since 2026, from the Code as applied by the Commercial Courts Act 2026.[1] [3] [5]

Section 94: the statutory menu

Under section 94, to prevent the ends of justice being defeated, the court may, if it is so prescribed, arrest the defendant and require security for appearance; require security to produce property, or attach it; grant a temporary injunction and punish disobedience; appoint a receiver; and make other interlocutory orders that appear just and convenient.[1] The words "if it is so prescribed" send the practitioner to Orders XXXVIII, XXXIX and XL of the First Schedule, which set the conditions for each remedy.[2]

Section 151: the inherent power

Section 151 preserves the court's inherent power to make orders necessary for the ends of justice or to prevent abuse of process.[1] It fills gaps the Orders do not reach. Ad interim injunctions sought from an appellate or revisional court while a challenge is pending are routinely moved under section 151, and attachment applications are commonly framed under Order XXXVIII "read with section 151".[7] [10] The inherent power cannot override an express provision, so identify the specific rule first.

Section 95: the price of a weak application

Where an arrest, attachment or temporary injunction was applied for on insufficient grounds, or the suit fails and there was no reasonable ground for it, the defendant may claim compensation of up to ten thousand Taka, and that order bars a separate suit for the same loss.[1] The sum is modest, which is why respondents also ask for security or undertakings.

Order XXXIX beyond the injunction

The temporary injunction is the most frequently sought interim remedy and has its own guide: our analysis of the temporary injunction in Bangladesh covers rules 1 to 5A, the three tests, notice, the seven-day rule for ex parte orders, status quo, appeals, violation and compensation. This section covers only the interlocutory orders that are often overlooked.

Interim sale, preservation and inspection

Rule 6 allows the sale of movable property in suit, or attached before judgment, that is subject to speedy and natural decay or should for other just cause be sold at once. Rule 7 allows orders for detention, preservation or inspection of property in dispute, entry onto land or buildings held by another party, and the taking of samples or experiments to obtain evidence.[2] Rule 8 requires notice: a plaintiff may apply any time after institution, a defendant any time after appearance.[2] For perishable cargo, disputed stock or a building whose condition is in issue, these rules often do more than an injunction.

Deposit of admitted money

Rule 10 is underused. Where the subject matter is money or a deliverable thing and a party admits holding it as trustee for another, or that it belongs or is due to another party, the court may order it deposited in court or delivered to that party, with or without security.[2] An admission in correspondence or a written statement can therefore produce an early payment without waiting for a decree.

Attachment and arrest before judgment under Order XXXVIII

Order XXXVIII protects a money claimant against a defendant who tries to make himself judgment-proof. It is the closest Bangladeshi equivalent to a freezing order, but it is narrower and strictly construed.

Arrest before judgment

Under rule 1, in any suit other than the immovable-property suits in section 16(a) to (d), the court may issue a warrant for the defendant's arrest and require him to show cause why he should not furnish security for appearance.

The applicant must show, by affidavit or otherwise, that the defendant, intending to delay the plaintiff or obstruct execution, has absconded, is about to leave the court's local limits or has removed his property, or is about to leave Bangladesh in circumstances likely to obstruct execution.[2] He is not arrested if he pays the sum specified in the warrant, and detention for failing to give security is capped at six months.[2] In practice the remedy is reserved for mobile or foreign defendants with a demonstrable plan to leave.

Attachment before judgment: a two-step procedure

Under rule 5, where the defendant, intending to obstruct or delay execution, is about to dispose of or remove any part of his property from the court's local limits, the court may direct him either to furnish security to produce the property or its value, or to show cause why he should not. The plaintiff must specify the property and its estimated value, and the court may order conditional attachment at the same time.[2] Only if the defendant fails to show cause or give security does rule 6 permit attachment; if he does either, any attachment must be withdrawn. Rule 11 provides that property attached before judgment need not be re-attached in execution.[2]

What the High Court Division demands

Two recent judgments show both sides. In Intertek Testing Services v Md Monowar Hossain, decided on 18 March 2025, the High Court Division set aside an attachment in a Dhaka money suit because nothing on record showed the defendants were disposing of property to obstruct execution. It restated that attachment before judgment is a matter of relief, not procedure, cannot be ordered merely because the plaintiff has a good case, and needs strict proof of the defendant's manoeuvre.[7]

In Dird Felt (Pvt) Ltd v M/S Hossain and Sons, decided on 2 December 2024, the result went the other way. The plaintiff had pleaded the supply value, the part payment and a balance of Tk 14,05,80,000, shown that the defendants' only identifiable asset was a bill payable by a navy-owned dockyard, and produced two dishonoured cheques. The court made the Rule absolute and directed attachment of the bill.[6] The lesson: specify the asset, quantify the claim and prove the risk.

Limits on the remedy

Attachment before judgment does not affect third-party rights existing before it, does not bar another decree-holder from seeking a sale in execution, cannot reach agricultural produce in an agriculturist's possession, and cannot be ordered against immovable property by a Small Cause Court.[2]

Appointment of a receiver under Order XL

Order XL rule 1 allows the court, where it appears just and convenient, to appoint a receiver of any property before or after decree, remove any person from possession, commit the property to the receiver's management and give him powers to sue, collect rents and profits and execute documents. It cannot remove from possession anyone whom no party has a present right to remove.[2]

The governing principles

In Md Anisur Rahman v Md Newaj Ahmed, decided on 5 May 2026, the High Court Division collected the principles. A receiver cannot be claimed as of course; the discretion is exercised sparingly because it takes property out of the litigants' hands. It is one of the harshest remedies the law provides, appropriate where the danger to the property is great and imminent, and the applicant must come with clean hands and without delay. Citing the Appellate Division in Faiz Ahmed v Bakhtear Ahmed, 36 DLR (AD) 97, the court held that a mere apprehension of transfer does not justify a receiver.[8]

Who is appointed, and on what terms

Of all interim remedies Bangladesh courts can grant, the receiver is the most adaptable. In Anisur Rahman, a partition suit over a Natore market building, the trial court appointed the plaintiffs themselves as receivers and directed them to pay the defendant Tk 17,000 a month. The High Court Division discharged the Rule with costs and ordered the unpaid dues paid immediately.[8] In Sheikh Md Rayech v Md Abdul Momin, decided on 8 February 2026, a Dhaka trial court appointed a police station's officer in charge as receiver of rent-producing land, the revisional court substituted an advocate, and the High Court Division discharged the Rule.[9]

Duties and enforcement

A receiver must give any security required, submit accounts, pay amounts due and answer for loss caused by wilful default or gross negligence; if he fails, the court may attach and sell his property to make good the loss.[2] Orders under rules 1 and 4 are appealable under Order XLIII rule 1(s), a point the respondent took in Rayech when the petitioner had chosen revision.[2] [9]

Ad interim orders in the civil courts

An ad interim order is a holding order made before the interim application itself is heard. It lasts until a fixed date or further orders, and stops the position changing while the court hears both sides on the main interim prayer. An ad interim order Bangladesh courts grant is therefore temporary twice over.

Notice and the seven-day hearing

For injunctions, Order XXXIX rules 3, 3A and 5A govern notice and re-service and require an ex parte ad interim order between private parties to be heard on merit within seven days of the opposite party's appearance, failing which it stands vacated if the applicant seeks an adjournment or does not attend.[2] Those rules are analysed in our temporary injunction guide.

Ad interim relief pending appeal or revision

When a trial court refuses an injunction, the dissatisfied party appeals or revises and asks for ad interim protection meanwhile. In Moniruzzaman Bari v Kamruzzaman Miah, the District Judge in Brahmanbaria rejected a section 151 application for an ad interim injunction in a pending revision. The High Court Division issued a Rule on 5 January 2026, directed status quo as to possession for three months and ordered the District Judge to decide the revision within a month.[10]

Status quo as the default holding order

Where possession is disputed, courts often prefer a status quo direction binding both sides. The order should say what it covers: possession, construction, transfer or payment. In Dird Felt the High Court Division directed the paying party to maintain status quo as to payment of bills up to the disputed sum, a model of precision.[6]

Ad interim orders in the High Court Division

In the High Court Division, the interim remedies Bangladesh litigants obtain almost always travel with a Rule. The bench that issues the Rule decides at the same hearing whether to stay the impugned order or direct status quo, and for how long.

In civil revision

Section 115(1) allows the High Court Division to revise orders of District Judges and Additional District Judges, and unappealable decrees of lower courts, for an error of law causing an erroneous decision and failure of justice. Section 115(4) allows revision of a District Judge's revisional order only with leave, on an important question of law.[1] Our guide to civil revision in Bangladesh covers the grounds.

Interim orders in revision are typically time-limited. In Salama Khatun v Ashok Kumar Ghosh, status quo granted with the Rule ran for six months and was last extended on 21 April 2026 for three months; in Dird Felt a six-month status quo was extended from time to time.[11] [6]

In writ petitions

Article 102(3) bars any interim order in relation to a law to which Article 47 applies. Article 102(4) prevents an interim order likely to prejudice a development programme or work, or otherwise harm the public interest, unless the Attorney General has had reasonable notice and a hearing and the court is satisfied it will not have that effect.[3] Writ stays are covered in our guides to the writ petition and the stay order in Bangladesh.

During vacation

Unless the Chief Justice specifies otherwise, an order of a single-judge vacation bench lasts until the vacation expires, and on the first working day afterwards the matter goes before an appropriate bench.[4] Vacation orders need prompt renewal.

What a rule nisi Bangladesh benches issue actually means

"Rule issued" is the phrase clients most often hear and least often understand. A Rule is an order of the High Court Division calling on the respondents to show cause, within a specified period, why the relief sought should not be granted. "Nisi" is Latin for "unless": the order takes effect unless cause is shown. A Rule does not decide the case. It records that the petitioner has an arguable case worth a full hearing.

Rule and Rule Nisi: the terminology

Chapter IVA of the Supreme Court (High Court Division) Rules settles the vocabulary. When a motion bench accepts an application for adjudication, it orders notice calling on the respondents to show cause. On a writ petition that order "may be called a Rule Nisi"; in other cases, such as civil revisions and criminal miscellaneous cases, "a Rule". Every such order must state a return date for service and direct the petitioner to put in requisites within a specified time.[4]

What a Rule means for the client

For a petitioner, the case is now registered, the respondents must be served, and any interim order granted with the Rule protects the position for the period stated. For a respondent, an affidavit-in-opposition is due and, if an interim order was granted, an application to vacate may be the most urgent task. A Rule suspends nothing by itself; only an express stay, status quo or other interim direction does.

Requisites: the step that is often missed

Rule 13 of Chapter IV requires the service fee for a Rule or Rule Nisi to be paid within three working days of issue, unless the court directs otherwise, and copies of the application, with annexures in writ matters, and registered acknowledgement-due envelopes to be filed for each opposite party. Until then, no copy of the Rule and no consequential order such as a stay or status quo may be issued or communicated to any court or person.[4] A stay nobody has received protects nobody.

The return date

Whether or not a service report arrives, the Section must place the matter on the return date: a civil motion before the bench dealing with Lawazima matters, other matters before the issuing bench if it is functioning. Within fifteen days the Section records a note on service for orders. In writ matters, if requisites are not filed, the record goes back to the bench within a week.[4]

How a Rule ends: absolute, discharged, infructuous or disposed of

A Rule is resolved at the final hearing, which may come months or years after issue. Each outcome has consequences for the interim order that came with it.

Rule made absolute

If cause is not shown, the Rule is made absolute. In Dird Felt, the court made the Rule absolute, set aside the refusal to attach, recalled its own status quo order as no longer needed and directed the trial court to attach the bill.[6]

Rule discharged

If cause is shown, the Rule is discharged and the interim order falls with it. In Anisur Rahman the Rule was discharged with costs and the petitioners ordered to pay the unpaid sums at once: a failed Rule can leave the petitioner worse off.[8]

Rule discharged as infructuous

A Rule becomes infructuous when events overtake it. In Moniruzzaman Bari, once the District Judge had decided the pending revision, the High Court Division discharged its Rule as infructuous on 27 April 2026 and vacated its status quo order.[10] In Sonali Bank v Towhid Engineering Ltd, a writ Rule issued in 1999 against an Artha Rin Adalat order, no one appeared to press it; on 13 August 2025 it was discharged as infructuous and the stay granted earlier vacated.[12]

Rule disposed of with directions

Sometimes the court disposes of the Rule with directions protecting both sides. In Salama Khatun, decided on 2 August 2026, a 2019 injunction suit had been held in place for over two years by the High Court Division's status quo. The court directed the trial court to conclude the trial without unnecessary adjournment and the parties to maintain status quo as to possession until the suit is decided.[11]

Motion application practice in the High Court Division

Every Rule begins as a motion. Chapter IVA, inserted in 2012, defines "Motion" as presenting before a bench an application that is not an appeal and which needs a judicial order for its acceptance and registration as a case.[4] The overall sequence is outlined in our High Court Division guide; the details below decide whether a motion is heard on time.

Motion benches and filing day

Unless the Chief Justice directs otherwise, unregistered applications go to a motion bench for issue of a Rule, and matters arising after registration stay with a motion bench until the case is fixed for hearing.[4] Civil and criminal motions are filed with the Bench Officer of the appropriate motion bench on the first day of the week, or on another day with the bench's leave in urgency. Writ petitions are filed with the Section, which numbers them, sends them for swearing and issues a slip so they can be mentioned.[4]

The affidavit clock: 30 and 45 days

A writ petition must be mentioned within thirty days after the affidavit is sworn, or the affidavit's validity for hearing expires. Civil and criminal motions must be filed within forty-five days after the affidavit, and that period does not extend limitation. Civil motions must carry certified copies of the judgment or order challenged.[4]

Mentioning and the cause list

To get a case into the daily cause list, a party files a mention slip during the bench's mention hour stating the case, parties, purpose and advocate. The Bench Officer requisitions the file before 3 pm and lists the case.[4] Motions not reached go into the next day's list as "In Re" items with priority over new motions; if a bench is reconstituted first, they are registered and placed before the Chief Justice within ten days.[4]

One chance per ground

A motion once moved cannot be taken back except for want of the bench's jurisdiction. If it is summarily rejected or not pressed, no fresh application lies on the same ground, and one on a new ground must disclose the earlier rejection.[4] A motion must therefore be complete on its first presentation.

The sequence below reflects how we prepare a High Court Division motion where interim relief is needed.

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Affidavits and the paper that wins interim relief

Interim relief in the High Court Division is decided on affidavit, so the drafting carries the case.

Form and content

Every application must state, after the cause title, the statutory provision relied on, the date of the order complained of and the value of the proceeding, and must set out the material facts relied on.[4] Affidavits must identify the case and their type, such as affidavit-in-opposition or supplementary affidavit, and be divided into numbered paragraphs each confined to a distinct subject.[4]

Affidavit-in-opposition and supplementary affidavits

A party showing cause against a Rule who relies on facts not in the other side's papers must do so by affidavit setting out those facts in narrative form. No affidavit is ordinarily read unless served twenty-four hours before the hearing, though that does not apply to urgent or ex parte motions.[4] Supplementary affidavits are common, but the High Court Division in revision will not assess disputed documents produced for the first time before it, as Anisur Rahman shows.[8]

Vacating, varying and extending ad interim orders

For a respondent, the fastest route out of an unfavourable ad interim order is usually the court that made it.

In the trial court

Order XXXIX rule 4 allows an injunction to be discharged, varied or set aside on a dissatisfied party's application, and rule 5A(3) vacates an ex parte ad interim injunction between private parties if the applicant seeks an adjournment or fails to attend.[2] Under Order XXXVIII, furnishing security ends an attachment.[2]

In the High Court Division

An application to vacate a stay in a pending Rule must be filed with the Bench Officer at least twenty-four hours before the sitting, after notice to the appearing parties, and posted in the cause list; an unlisted application is not entertained save in special circumstances.[4] Grounds that succeed are concrete: suppression of material facts or earlier litigation, a wrong schedule, delay, an Article 102(4) public-interest impact, or failure to file requisites or prosecute the Rule.[3] [4] If the bench refuses, the Chamber Judge of the Appellate Division is next; our stay order guide explains that route.

Extensions

Because High Court Division interim orders are granted for fixed periods, extension must be sought before expiry; the cases in this guide show initial six-month or three-month orders extended in three-month steps.[6] [11] Diarise the expiry date the day the order is made.

Comparing interim remedies Bangladesh courts grant

The table below compares the main remedies. On a phone, scroll it sideways.

Challenging interim orders: appeal or revision

Order XLIII rule 1 makes appealable orders under rules 2, 3 or 6 of Order XXXVIII, rules 1, 2, 4 or 10 of Order XXXIX, and rules 1 or 4 of Order XL.[2] Other interim orders, such as one on a section 151 application, are challenged in revision under section 115(2) before the District Judge, with further revision only by leave under section 115(4).[1] See our guides to the civil appeal and civil revision.

In commercial disputes, section 6 of the Commercial Courts Act 2026 bars appeals from any Commercial Court order other than the final judgment, while permitting revision and review on Code principles, within sixty days, in the High Court Division. Section 8(1) transfers pending commercial suits to the Commercial Courts, but where an appeal or revision against an interim order is pending, transfer waits until it is decided.[5] Our Commercial Courts Act guide covers the wider regime.

2025 and 2026 changes that affect interim remedies

Recent legislation touches interim remedies Bangladesh courts grant at the edges rather than the core.

The Code of Civil Procedure (Amendment) Act 2026

The interim government's 2025 amendment ordinance was replaced by the Code of Civil Procedure (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. XXXVI of 2026, with effect from 8 May 2025.[1] Its most relevant change here is new section 94A: to execute any decree or order, the court may direct executive authorities, including law enforcement agencies, to assist a person it designates and report compliance within a set time.[1] Because it covers "any decree or order", it gives courts a statutory tool to make a receiver's possession or a status quo effective on the ground.

The Act also raised the ceiling on compensatory costs for false or vexatious claims or defences under section 35A from twenty thousand to fifty thousand Taka, a sanction that reaches baseless interim applications and objections as much as suits.[1] Its other changes to plaints, summons and evidence are covered in our guide to filing a civil suit in Bangladesh.

What did not change

The current official First Schedule shows no 2025 or 2026 amendment to Orders XXXVIII, XXXIX or XL; Order XXXIX's notice, seven-day and compensatory-cost provisions still derive from the Code of Civil Procedure (Third Amendment) Act 2003, and the section 95 ceiling remains ten thousand Taka.[1] [2] Commentary suggesting the 2025 reforms rewrote the injunction rules should be treated with caution.

Commercial disputes

Under the Commercial Courts Act 2026, pre-suit mediation under section 7(1) applies only where the suit involves no urgent interim relief, and section 9(1) applies the Code unless the Act provides otherwise, so Orders XXXVIII to XL apply in Commercial Courts.[5] A claimant needing protective relief should say so expressly in the plaint.

Interim remedies Bangladesh strategy: mistakes to avoid

Across the interim remedies Bangladesh courts offer, the same errors recur.

For applicants

• Choosing the wrong remedy: an injunction will not secure a debt; attachment before judgment or a rule 10 deposit order may.
• Vague schedules: attachment and receivership fail where the property, value and risk are not specified.[7]
• Forgetting requisites: a High Court Division stay is not communicated until requisites are filed.[4]
• Letting the order lapse: time-limited stays need extension before expiry.
• Abandoning the Rule: an unprosecuted Rule will be discharged and its stay vacated.[12]

For respondents

• Waiting for the final hearing: a focused vacating application is usually worth more than the final opposition.
• Ignoring security: furnishing security under Order XXXVIII ends an attachment.[2]
• Picking the wrong forum: appealable orders under Order XLIII should be appealed, not revised.[9]
• Missing compensation: claim section 95 compensation and rule 5A(4) costs when an unjustified order falls.[1] [2]

TRW acts for claimants and defendants on injunctions, attachments, receivers, stays and High Court Division motions. Our real estate disputes practice handles possession, partition and title protection, and our constitutional and writ litigation practice handles Rules and interim orders against public authorities. For an urgent matter, contact TRW.

Frequently asked questions

What are interim remedies in Bangladesh civil cases?

Orders that protect the subject matter of a suit until it is decided: arrest and attachment before judgment, temporary injunctions, receivers, interim sale, preservation and deposit orders under section 94 and Orders XXXVIII to XL of the Code of Civil Procedure, supplemented by section 151.[1] [2]

What does "Rule issued" mean in the High Court Division?

A motion bench has accepted the application and called on the respondents to show cause, within a stated period, why the relief should not be granted. In writ matters the order may be called a Rule Nisi; in others, a Rule. It is not a final decision.[4]

What is the difference between a Rule made absolute and a Rule discharged?

A Rule made absolute grants the relief because cause was not shown; a Rule discharged refuses it. Either way, the interim order granted with the Rule is ordinarily recalled or vacated.[6] [8]

Why would a Rule be discharged as infructuous?

Because events have overtaken it, for example where the lower court proceeding has already been decided, or the petitioner has stopped pressing it. In 2025 the High Court Division discharged a 1999 writ Rule as infructuous after no one appeared for the petitioner.[10] [12]

What is an ad interim order?

A short holding order made before the interim application is heard. An ex parte ad interim injunction between private parties must be heard on merit within seven days of the opposite party's appearance.[2]

Can a court freeze a defendant's assets before judgment?

Yes, under Order XXXVIII rule 5, where the defendant is about to dispose of or remove property to obstruct execution. The court first calls for security or cause, and attaches only if the defendant fails to respond adequately.[2] [7]

When will a court appoint a receiver?

Where it is just and convenient and the danger to the property is great and imminent. A mere apprehension of transfer is not enough.[2] [8]

How long is an affidavit valid for a High Court Division motion?

A writ petition must be mentioned within 30 days after the affidavit is sworn; civil and criminal motions must be filed within 45 days. The 45 days do not extend limitation.[4]

Can an order on an interim application be appealed?

Orders under listed rules of Orders XXXVIII, XXXIX and XL are appealable under Order XLIII rule 1; others go by revision under section 115. In a Commercial Court only the final judgment is appealable, and interim orders are revised within sixty days.[1] [2] [5]

Did the 2025 to 2026 reforms change the law on interim remedies?

Only at the edges. The Code of Civil Procedure (Amendment) Act 2026 added section 94A on law-enforcement assistance, but Orders XXXVIII, XXXIX and XL were not amended. The Commercial Courts Act 2026 changed the challenge route for commercial disputes.[1] [2] [5]