Staff Reporter :
The High Court (HC) on Sunday directed the Election Commission not to allow any person accused of grabbing river land to contest in any election be it local government or Parliamentary polls.
The court also ordered Bangladesh Bank to take steps so that none accused of grabbing river land can get bank loan.
Delivering judgment on a writ petition, the High Court asked the Education Ministry to take steps so that an hour-long class is taken in a day in every two months in all the government and the private academic institutions like schools, colleges, universities and madrasas for building awareness about the rivers.
The court asked the Industries Ministry to arrange meetings for one hour in a day in every two months for building consciousness for protecting the river among the workers of the mills and factories across the country.
The government has been ordered to amend the National River Protection Commission Act 2013 for making the National River Protection Commission effective and independent and submit a report after complying with the order in this court in six months.
The High Court ordered the commission to take necessary development measures and protection for all the rivers of the country.
The court declared Turag River as “legal and juristic person” and a living entity and asked the authorities concerned to remove all structures within 30 days.
The High Court bench of Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Md Ashraful Kamal gave special thanks to an English daily for publishing a report in observation.
The HC on Thursday observed that playing blind-man’s-buff (kanamachhi) regarding protection of rivers must be stopped, as grabbers return to occupy river banks even after their eviction.
Grabbing river land and eviction of land grabbers will go on until the National River Protection Commission (NRPC) can take effective actions to this end, it said.
The High Court on Thursday also observed that the National River Protection Commission and National Human Rights Commission seemed to be dummy commissions as they could not take actions against perpetrators.
Earlier on Wednesday, the court said, all the 450 rivers of the country will have to be protected in order to save the human beings from damage and pollution.
On November 7, 2016, Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB), a non government organization, filed a writ petition after a report published under the banner of “Time to declare Turag dead” in an English daily on November 6, 2016.
Two days later, a HC bench directed the government to stop earth-filling, encroachment and construction along the banks of Turag and submits a report after complying with the order.
It also issued a rule upon the authorities concerned to explain as to why their inaction to stop such activities should not be declared illegal.
In October 2017, Chief Judicial Magistrate of Gazipur submitted a report in the HC saying 30 structures were set up illegally along the banks of the river in Gazipur. On December 13, 2017, the HC directed authorities to demolish the structures immediately.
Advocate Manzill Murshid appeared in the court on behalf of HRPB, while Barrister A M Mahbub Uddin Khokan, Barrister Saqib Mahbub, Advocate Mehedi Hassan Chowdhury, Advocater Asaduzzaman and some other lawyers took part in the hearing for the respondents.
