The High Court today issued a rule questioning the legality of a law that has empowered the authorities concerned to fill Karnaphuli river in Chattogram.

In the rule, the court asked the authorities concerned with the government to explain in two weeks why the Chittagong Port Authority Act 2022 which empowered the port authority to fill the river should not be scrapped.

The HC bench of Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice Debasish Roy Chowdhury issued the rule following a writ petition filed by Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh challenging the legality of the Chittagong Port Authority Act 2022.

The petitioner's lawyer, Manzill Murshid, told the court that the Chittagong Port Authority Act was passed in 2022 and a gazette notification was issued on April 13, 2022. Section 10(2)(f) of the law provides powers to the authority to fill rivers in Chattogram.

If such powers remain in force, Karnaphuli river cannot be protected, he said.

Deputy Attorney General Tanim Khan represented the state during the hearing.