Dhaka – The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court yesterday dismissed a petition filed by BGMEA seeking review of the court’s verdict that directed the authorities concerned to demolish the unauthorised multi-storey office building at Hatirjheel in Dhaka.After hearing on the petition, the three-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by chief justice Surendra Kumar Sinha passed the order saying that ‘the review petition is dismissed’.
However, the apex court asked the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) authority to submit an application before it by March 9 (Thursday) seeking time for demolishing the building.
The apex court will pass its order over the issue on next Thursday, according to the order.
The 16-storey building of the BGMEA was constructed in the middle of the Hatirjheel-Begunbari canal despite concerns from the green activists.
The SC, in its full verdict on 8 November last year, order the BGMEA to demolish its building ‘BGMEA Complex’ situated on the water body of Begunbari canal and Hatirjheel lake at once, at its own cost.
The Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK) was also given directives to demolish the building, if the BGMEA does not to do so within 90 days after getting a copy of the verdict.
Terming the BGMEA building as a “cancerous” structure, the apex court observed that it marred the attractiveness of a government project to beautify Hatirjheel Lake in Dhaka.
On 8 December last year, BGMEA president filed a petition for a review of the top court’s verdict.
On April 13, 2011, the HC had ordered the authorities concerned to demolish the 15-storey BGMEA building on the Begunbari-Hatirjheel canal, saying it was built on land acquired through forgery and illegally filling the canal with earth.
The HC also said the BGMEA did not take approval for its plan and construction from Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk). It had then ordered the tenants to vacate the building and move their belongings within 90 days.
The High Court, in its verdict, called the BGMEA building ‘a cancerous growth’ that eclipsed Hatirjheel, a beauty spot of the capital.
In 1998, the then prime minister Sheikh Hasina laid the foundation stone of the building. In 2006, the then prime minister Khaleda Zia inaugurated the building.
Attorney General Mahbubey Alam stood for the state while Advocate M Kamrul Haque Siddique for BGMEA. – Staff Reporter
