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Published : 30 Jun 2021, 06:47 PM
Describing Hatirjheel as the lung of Dhaka, the court declared commercial structures in the project site illegal on Wednesday after hearing a writ petition.
The court said its declaration of the project as a public trust was in line with a previous verdict recognising the Turag and other rivers as ‘legal persons’.
The panel of Justice Md Ashraful Kamal and Razik-Al-Jalil advised the authorities to rename the project after renowned scientist Jagdish Chandra Bose.
“It is necessary to protect the Hatirjheel project site because it is the lung of Dhaka.”
The court ordered the government to constitute an authority to preserve, develop and maintain the project under the supervision of the prime minister, and appoint BUET’s civil engineering department and the Army’s 24th Brigade as the consultants of the project.
The authorities must construct underground toilets and arrange for drinking water, ways for the movement of people with disabilities and separate cycle lanes in Hatirjheel.
The lake will be turned into a sanctuary for fish.
Manzill Murshid, the lawyer for the petitioner Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh, said the verdict is a “continuing mandamus” one, meaning the authorities will have to perform an act or series of acts decreed by final judgment which shall remain effective until judgment is fully satisfied.
Imam Hasan, the lawyer for the capital development authority Rajuk, said they will decide about challenging the verdict once its copy is available.
The Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh had filed the public interest litigation in 2018 seeking an order to remove the structures that are not on the original plan of Hatirjheel.
The court ordered the removal of the structures that are not on the plan within seven days and issued a set of rules, asking the authorities why they should not preserve Hatirjheel.
