SC stays structure demolition order on Turag bank

The Supreme Court today stayed a High Court order that earlier directed the authorities concerned to demolish the structures set up along the foreshore of the Turag river at different places in Gazipur.

The Appellate Division of the SC also asked the HC bench led by Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury to hear and dispose of the rule on this issue by February 28.

A five-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Justice Md Abdul Wahhab Miah, who is performing functions of the chief justice, passed the order after hearing a petition filed by owners of 10 structures seeking a stay on the HC order.

Advocate Prabir Niyogi, the lawyer for the owners of 10 structures told The Daily Star that the authorities cannot demolish the structures following the Supreme Court stay order.

The chief judicial magistrate of Gazipur in October this year submitted a probe report before the HC, saying that 30 structures have been set up illegally along the foreshore of the Turag at different places in Gazipur, Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB) lawyer Advocate Manzill Murshid was quoted as saying according to a report published on December 14 last year.

The HRPB had filed a writ petition with the HC on November 7, 2016, a day after The Daily Star ran a report under the headline “Time to declare Turag dead”.

Following the petition, the HC on November 9 last year directed the government to stop earth-filling, encroachment and construction of structures along the foreshores and also issued a rule upon the authorities concerned to explain why their inaction in stopping such activities should not be declared illegal.

During hearing the rule, the court on January 5 this year directed the chief judicial magistrate of Gazipur to probe the matter and submit a report before it.