Staff Reporter :
The High Court (HC) on Wednesday formed a three-member committee to assess the liabilities and compensation issues in regard to the road accident in which Government Titumir College student Rajib Hossain lost his right arm and subsequently succumbed to the injuries last month.
Professor Mowazzem Hossain, Director of Accident and Research Institute for Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) will head the committee.
He will nominate a teacher of the institute and Ilias Kanchan, Chairman of ‘Nirapad Sorok Chai’ movement as two other members of the committee.
The committee will submit the assessment report in the HC by June 30. The HC will then pass an order on July 4 on this issue.
The High Court bench of Justice Salma Masud Chowdhury and Justice A K M Zahirul Hoque passed the order in line with a Supreme Court directive.
The SC on May 22 asked the HC to form the assessment committee.
On May 8, the High Court bench of Justice Salma Masud Chowdhury and Justice A K M Zahirul Hoque ordered the owners of two buses— BRTC and Swajan Paribahan— to pay Tk one crore to the family of Rajib Hossain.
But on May 22, the Supreme Court stayed the High Court order and also asked the HC to form an independent committee to assess the liabilities of the accident.
The independent committee will submit the assessment report in the High Court by June 30 and then the High Court will determine the compensation for the family members of Rajib, the Supreme Court said.
A four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain passed the order after hearing two separate petitions filed by Bangladesh Road and Transport Corporation (BRTC) and Swajan Paribahan challenging the High Court order.
After two weeks in coma, Rajib Hossain, a third-year student of Government Titumir College, breathed his last at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) on April 17.
Rajib lost the hand after it got stuck between the two buses of BRTC and Swajan Paribahan, which were trying to overtake each other on April 3.
Profusely bleeding, Rajib was taken to Samorita Hospital at Panthapath. He was kept in the post operative intensive care unit (ICU) on the day of the accident.
After publishing the photograph of Rajib’s hanging hand on April 4, Barrister Ruhul Quddus Kazal, a Supreme Court lawyer, the same day, filed a writ petition with the High Court seeking necessary order for the treatment of Rajib and ensuring free movement of people.
After hearing, the same HC bench directed the owners of two buses to bear all the treatment cost of Titumir College student Rajib Hossain. The court also issued a rule asking the government and the bus owners to explain in four weeks as to why they should not be directed to give Tk one crore to Rajib Hossain as compensation.
In the rule, the court also asked the government to show cause as to why they should not be directed to strictly enforce the relevant laws and rules for free movement of the people in the streets. After Rajib’s death, Barrister Kazal filed a supplementary petition in the court demanding compensation for his family members.
