High Court asks why travel restrictions on St Martin’s Island should not be declared illegal

The environment secretary, director general of the department of environment, the Cox’s Bazar deputy commissioner and others must answer the rule in 4 weeks

The High Court has issued a rule asking why the government’s restrictions on travel to St Martin’s Island should not be declared illegal.

The bench of Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice Debashish Roy made the decision on Sunday.

Lawyers Md Amir Hossain and Ujjal Hossain presented the petition at the hearing.

Afterwards, Amir told the media that Cox’s Bazar Citizen Forum President ANM Helal Uddin had filed a petition challenging the government’s decision to impose travel restrictions on St Martin’s Island, including media reports on the decision.

“After three days of hearings on the petition, the court issued a rule today. In the rule, the court asked why the travel restrictions on St Martin’s should not be declared illegal.”

The environment secretary, director general of the department of environment, the Cox’s Bazar deputy commissioner and others related to the issue must present their answers to the rule within four weeks.

On Oct 28, the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change issued an order imposing restrictions on tourism and single-use plastic pollution on St Martin’s Island.

The petition challenging the decision was filed at the High Court on Nov 21.

The plea has named eight people, including the secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, the director general of the Department of Environment, the deputy commissioner of Chattogram, the deputy commissioner of Cox's Bazar, the superintendent of police of Cox's Bazar, and the deputy director of the Department of Environment in Cox's Bazar, as respondents in the petition.