The High Court has ordered every divisional commissioner in Bangladesh and the director general of the Department of Environment to shut down illegal brick kilns across the country, and to report to the court by 14 December on what they have done.
A bench of Justice JBM Hassan and Justice Aziz Ahmed Bhuiyan issued the order on Thursday, 12 November. Senior advocate Manzill Murshid argued for the petitioners, advocate Mohammad Ali for the kiln owners and advocate Muntasir Uddin Ahmed for the Department of Environment.
The case began as public-interest litigation filed by the rights group HRPB. According to Murshid, the High Court issued a rule on 13 November 2022 directing action against illegal kilns. The kiln owners' association later asked the court to amend its order and to exempt zigzag-technology kilns. After hearing them the court made some amendments but kept the order to remove illegal kilns in place.
Several kiln owners then appealed and sought a stay, which they did not get, and the Appellate Division later dismissed the appeals. Eviction drives against illegal kilns followed the earlier orders.
Murshid said HRPB had heard that owners of some illegal kilns were preparing to start up again, so it applied for a report on how far the court's directions had been carried out. After hearing all sides the court granted the application. It also directed that owners of legal kilns should not be harassed.
The report due on 14 December will show how far the divisional commissioners and the Department of Environment have enforced the order on the ground. The report was filed by Banglanews24's special correspondent.
Photo: Dolon Prova / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: Banglanews24
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