High Court asks Concord to hand over 18-storey complex at Azimpur to Salimullah orphanage

The High Court has ordered Concord Group to hand over an 18-storey complex at Azimpur in Dhaka to Sir Salimullah Muslim Orphanage.

The bench of Justice Mirza Hussain Haider and Justice AKM Zahirul Hoque on Thursday directed the developer to transfer the complex to the orphanage within 30 days from the day it gets a copy of the verdict.
 
The court issued the order following a writ petition filed by four students of the orphanage.
 
It also ordered the relevant authorities to preserve assets of the institution.
 
Set up in 1909, Sir Salimullah Muslim Orphanage has been operating by taking land on lease from the government.
 
The writ petition said the then acting president of the orphanage Begum Shamsunnahar and secretary GA Khan handed over the two bighas (0.80104712 acres) of land to Concord on July 22, 2003.
 

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The High Court in the order said the document pertaining to handover and that of the power of attorney given on Apr 13, 2004 were ‘not maintainable and void from the beginning.’

Referring to the contract of the lease, petitioner’s lawyer Manzill Murshid said the land was not supposed to be used for any purpose not related to the orphanage.

He said the court also ordered authorities to develop the complex, if necessary.

The petition was filed in 2013. Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh was later made a party to the case.

The High Court on Feb 11 that year issued a rule and halted the construction of the complex.

In the rule, the court had asked why the respondents’ inaction to preserve the asset of the orphanage should not be declared illegal.

Lawyers Fida M Kamal and MA Hanan argued for Concord at the hearing.