Court Correspondent :
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court yesterday (Thursday) ordered the tannery owners to relocate their tanneries from Hazaribagh to Savar by April 6.
A three-member Bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, passed the order after hearing on a petition filed by the tannery owners seeking a stay on the High Court order.
Besides, the apex court fixed April 9 for hearing petition on the fines which the tannery owners did not pay.
The High Court Division on Wednesday rejected a petition of the tannery owners seeking permission to continue their activities at Hazaribagh in the capital till Eid-ul-Azha.
On March 2, a Bench of High Court directed 154 tannery owners to pay Tk 30.65 crore fine for not relocating their factories to the Tannery Estate in Savar within the stipulated time.
On March 1, the Industries Secretary submitted a list of 154 errant tannery owners who did not pay Tk 10,000 fine per day despite the court’s previous directives.
Earlier, on February 7, the Industries Secretary appeared in the court to explain his failure to collect Tk 10,000 per day from the tannery owners. On that day, the HC directed him to submit the list of the errant tannery owners.
On July 18 last year, the High Court ordered each of the 154 tannery owners of Hazaribagh to pay the Government Tk 10,000 per day as fine for not relocating their factories to the Tannery Estate in Savar. The court also ordered the government to donate 50 percent of the fine to the National Liver Foundation of Bangladesh.
On January 10 last year, the Industries Secretary submitted a report before the court mentioning that 150 companies paid Tk 10,000 each in August last while four paid the fine for September while three others for October last.
As the Secretary failed to do his duties for collecting the fine, lawyer Manzill Murshid filed a petition seeking a summon order against the Secretary to give the explanation.
In 2001, the High Court passed an order for relocating the tannery industries from Hazaribagh of the capital. The Government extended the relocation deadline several times, in response to requests from the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC), the implementing agency of the tannery estate project.
