SC issues injunction on earth filling at 6 mouzas in Sonargaon

The Supreme Court today issued injunction on earth-filling in the agricultural lands, lowlands, wetlands, and parts of Meghna river at six mauzas Sonargaon upazila of Narayanganj.

The mouzas are --Pirojpur, Jainpur, Chhoihisya, Charvobonathpur, Bhatibandha, and Ratanpur.

Chamber judge of the Appellate Division of the SC Justice M Enayetur Rahim passed the order following a petition filed by Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) seeking necessary directives to save the environment of the area.

The organisation said in the petition that authorities of "Sonargaon Resort City (SRC)" and so-called "Sonargaon Economic Zone (SEZ)" doing earth filling on those lands in violation of law and court orders.

owned by businessman Md Noor Ali are

According to the petition, a private housing company titled as Unique Property Development Ltd took up the housing project called "Sonargaon Resort City" in 2011 by filling up the existing agricultural lands, lowlands and swamp lands in the six mouzas of Sonargaon upazila

BELA filed a writ petition as a public interest litigation with the HC in 2014 after the company continued to forcibly occupy and fill 2,350 bighas of land to implement its project.

After a hearing of the petition, the HC on March 2, 2014, issued a ban on the filling of soil and sand in the said mouzas.

Later, on August 14, 2018, the Appellate Division of the SC ordered to stop the filling of soil and sand in those mouzas and to remove the soil used to fill the areas.

In violation of the court directives, the company changed the name of its housing project and continued to fill soil and sand to create "Sonargaon Economic Zone" on the same land.

BELA took various legal actions including filing contempt of court cases against the company.

After a long and final hearing, the HC on December 2, 2020 delivered a verdict with 11 directives.

In the judgment, the HC declared illegal the activities of sand filling for the purpose of creating economic zones in the vast agricultural lands, low lands, and wetlands located in the mouzas.

It directed the Department of Environment (DoE) and local administration to determine the amount of land occupied and filled with sand and the amount of compensation for those activities.

At the same time, the court directed the assistant commissioner (Lands) of Sonargaon and deputy director of the DoE, Narayanganj, to bring the lands to their previous conditions at the cost of Unique Property Development Limited and Sonargaon Economic Zone Limited.

The company and its projects filed three civil petitions for leave to appeal with the Appellate Division against the HC judgment.

Though, the leave to appeal petitions are pending before the Appellate Division, SRC and SEZ has recently started earth filling at Chhoihisya, Charvobonathpur mouzas afresh, a BELA press release said.

Advocate Minhajul Haque Chowdhury argued for BELA, while senior Advocate Mohammad Saeed Ahmed Raja appeared for the company.