The High Court has ordered that no cattle market may be set up at Meradia in Banasree, in the capital, for the coming Eid-ul-Azha.

A bench of Justice Kazi Zinat Hoque and Justice Ainun Nahar Siddiqua passed the order on Monday (28 April) after a hearing on the matter. The petitioner's lawyer, Zahirul Islam, confirmed it to Jago News on Tuesday (29 April).

The bench issued the order, along with a rule, after hearing a writ petition filed by a local resident. Lawyer Liton Ahmed, Barrister Khandaker Khurram Jah Murad and Advocate Zahirul Islam argued for the petition.

Barrister Khandaker Khurram Jah Murad said a cattle market cannot be held in a residential area, yet Dhaka South City Corporation had issued a lease notice. After the writ, the High Court on Monday imposed a three-month stay on holding a temporary cattle market on the empty land along the canal bank east of Meradia Bazar, and issued a rule.

The rule asks why holding a cattle market on the empty canal-bank land east of Meradia Bazar during Eid-ul-Azha 2025 should not be declared unlawful, and why a direction should not be given to remove column nine from the notice.

The local government secretary, the director general of the Department of Environment, the Dhaka deputy commissioner, the administrator, chief executive officer and chief estate officer of Dhaka South City Corporation, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner and the officer-in-charge of Khilgaon police station have been asked to respond.

Dhaka South City Corporation issued the lease notice on 21 April. Column nine of the notice listed "the empty land along the canal bank east of Meradia Bazar" as a cattle market site. Md Shahabuddin Shikder, a local resident of Banasree, then filed the writ challenging the legality of column nine.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.