SC upholds eviction of illegal structures on rivers

The Appellate Division has rejected five appeals against a High Court order that called for protecting the navigability of the four rivers surrounding Dhaka.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 14 July 2014, 08:25 AM
Updated : 14 July 2014, 08:25 AM

A lawyer in the case said after the rule there were no more obstacle to demolish illegal structures on the Sitalakkhya river.

A five-member bench led by Chief Justice Muzammel Hossain ruled against the appeals on Monday.

The appeals were made by five business organisations - City Group, Kamal Vegetables, Molla Salt, Heidelberg Cement and Cemex Cement - to protect their jetties on the river.

In 2009, the High Court ruled on a petition by a group named Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh and ordered the government to protect the navigability of the rivers surrounding Dhaka-- Buriganga, Sitalakkhya, Turag and Balu.

Munzill Murshid, the lawyer for Human Rights and Peace, said since the pronouncement of the verdict, almost 1,500 entities have been evicted from the four rivers.

“These five businesses moved the High Court twice and the Appellate Division three times. All of their appeals have been rejected. So there are no further impediments to evict them from the river,” he said.

Narayanganj district administration gave them a demolition notice in February 2010.

Murshid during the hearing pointed out that the notice did not order the businesses to shut down but to remove their structures from within the river.

“This will not shut down their factories and lead to workers losing jobs. This logic is an attempt to protect the illegal structures,” he said.