Top court orders BGMEA to demolish its 16-storey office building immediately

The BGMEA has been told to start demolishing its office building at Dhaka’s Hatirjheel, bearing the full cost of the demolition.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday released the full copy of its verdict which in June rejected the BGMEA’s appeal against a High Court verdict ordering its headquarters to be pulled down for violating environmental rules.

If the BGMEA fails to carry out the demolition, the city authority RAJUK will be instructed to start demolishing the 16-storey building in 90 days and then realise the cost from the BGMEA, the court said. 

The BGMEA will file a review petition against the appellate verdict, said Mohammed Nasir, vice chairman of the apparels trade body.

“There is an option to file for a review within one month. We’ll definitely take that opportunity. After that, we’ll abide by whatever the honourable court decides,” he told bdnews24.com.

“Our plea will mention the need for breathing space so the sector can continue earning foreign currency, if we have to tear down the building.” 

The BGMEA building was built at the capital’s Hatirjheel project in violation of the Wetlands Protection Act nearly two decades ago.

The authorities had earlier said they were waiting for the apex court to publish the full verdict for directives on how to carry out the order and on the manner in which the cost of demolition was to be borne. 

In 1998, then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina laid the foundation stone of the BGMEA building.

Construction work of the building began in November the same year. The building was inaugurated by Khaleda Zia, the then prime minister, in 2006.

In October 2010, the High Court issued a rule asking why the building should not be razed.

The rule came after a lawyer presented a report carried by an English language daily on the building.

The court had then sought explanations from the secretary of the public works ministry, RAJUK, BGMEA president, district administration and Dhaka metro police commissioner.

In 2011, the High Court ordered the structure to be taken down as it found the building had been constructed in violation of laws geared to protecting wetlands.

“The BGMEA Bhaban is like a cancer in the Hatirjheel project and if the building is not taken down immediately, it will infect not just Hatirjheel but the entire Dhaka City,” the court said in its verdict.

It also said ‘the reason behind sparing a certain influential quarter with strong financial backup beyond the reach of the law is completely unacceptable’.

The full verdict was available two years later, when the BGMEA moved the Appellate Division against the ruling.

The Supreme Court on June 2 turned down the petition and upheld the High Court's verdict.