Staff Reporter :
Demolition of BGMEA (Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association) building is only a matter of time.
The Supreme Court (SC) on Sunday dismissed a petition seeking review of its judgment that upheld a High Court (HC) verdict for demolishing the BGMEA complex.
A three-member bench of the Appellate Division of the SC headed by the Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha passed the order after two days’ hearing.
The apex court, however, asked the BGMEA authorities to submit an application in the Appellate Division seeking time for demolishing the building by Thursday. The SC will pass the further order on that day.
BGMEA’s lawyer Barrister Imtiaz Moinul Islam told reporters that the building must be demolished but the SC will give some time to the BGMEA authorities for demolishing the structure.
BGMEA will seek a three-year time for the demolition, the lawyer said.
A four-member bench of the SC headed by the Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha rejected the appeal petition filed by the BGMEA on June 2, 2016.
The SC on November 8 last year released the full text of its verdict in which the apex court upheld the HC judgment that ordered BGMEA to immediately demolish, at its own cost, the 15-storied building constructed illegally on the Begunbari canal and Hatirjheel Lake.
Otherwise, Rajuk will do it within 90 days of receiving the order and realise the cost from BGMEA, it said.
On December, 2016, President of the BGMEA filed a petition seeking review of the Supreme Court judgment.
On April 3, 2011, the HC verdict ordered the government to demolish the building within three months, saying it was built on land acquired through forgery and filled with earth illegally.
According to the documents of the case, an English daily published a report on the BGMEA building on October 2, 2010 saying that the building was built without permission of the Rajuk.
Later, a SC lawyer brought the report to the attention of a HC bench. On October 3, 2010, the HC issued a rule as Suo Moto about the building.
On April 3 in 2011, the HC bench of Justice A H M Shamsuddin Chowdhury and Justice Sheikh Md Zakir Hossain declared construction of the BGMEA building illegal.
The Chamber Judge of the Appellate Division on April 5 in 2011 stayed the HC judgment following a BGMEA petition. Later, the time period was extended several rounds.
The HC released the full text of its verdict on March 19 in 2013. The BGMEA authorities filed leave to appeal petition on May 21 on 2013. After hearing the SC rejected the leave to appeal petition on June 2 in 2016.
The SC said in its full verdict that although both site and environment clearance certificates were required for the commercial building, the “petitioner failed or did not care to obtain” the certificate.
No commercial establishment can be set up without the environment clearance from the Department of Environment as stated in Section 12 of the Environment Conservation Act 1995 and Rule 7(4) of the Environment Conservation Rules 1997, it said.
Since the water bodies “never belonged to the petitioner, at any point of time”, the construction violates “Section 5 of the “Joladhar Ain, 2000” as well as Sections “6(Uma)” and 12 of the Environment Conservation Act 1995″, it observed.
The apex court said the two natural water bodies, mentioned in Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan, Vol-II (urban area plan of 1995-2005), drain one-third of Dhaka city’s storm and waste water and retain some rainwater for recreational opportunities.
Any commercial building changing the water bodies’ nature and character in violation of “Joladhar Ain, 2000” is unlawful and violates Environment Conservation Act 1995, it said. Also, the Export Promotion Bureau has no right to allot the property, it added.
Moreover, the HC order was “well reasoned and based on proper appreciation of facts and circumstances as well as the law”, it said.
