Court orders Freedom Fighter Welfare Trust to pay Moon Cinema Hall owner Tk 990m

The Appellate Division has ordered the Bangladesh Freedom Fighter Welfare Trust to pay Moon Cinema Hall owner Tk 990m, the present-day value of its land and establishments built there, in a case that goes decades back.

A five-member bench led by acting Chief Justice Abdul Wahhab Miah passed the order on Thursday.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam argued for the state, while Advocate Toufique Newaz represented Bangladesh Italian Marble Works Ltd which owns Moon Cinema.

The Trust has to pay the sum in three instalments—Tk 250 million each in the first two in four months, and the rest by Jul 30.

The case is significant as it is related to a landmark court verdict that declared the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution unlawful and directed the government to return the Moon Cinema Hall to its original owners.

In January last year, the apex court ordered relevant authorities to assess the value of the lands of the cinema hall and other establishments.

It ordered them to appoint an “experienced and neutral” engineer for the task and hand in a report.

The court passed the order on Thursday, based on a report filed by Prof Jamilur Reza Choudhury.

The Moon Cinema Hall owned by Bangladesh Italian Marble Works Ltd in Old Dhaka was declared abandoned during the 1971 Liberation War.

The industries ministry later appointed Bangladesh Freedom Fighter Welfare Trust as its custodian. But Maksudul Alam, managing director of Bangladesh Italian Marble Works, claimed the ownership of the property stalling the move.

Italian Marble Works filed a writ petition with the High Court in 2000 challenging the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution that validated Martial Law Proclamation Orders between 1975 and 1979.

BNP founder and former President Ziaur Rahman announced a decree in 1977 that blocked challenges against the government’s decisions to declare properties abandoned.