SC allows shutting down stone business on banks of Buriganga

The Supreme Court today cleared the way for Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) to stop stone business of MAQ Enterprise and to confiscate and auction the stone at the foreshore of Buriganga River in Munshikhola area under Kadamtali Police Station.

The Appellate Division of the SC stayed a High Court order that in October 2019 issued an order of status quo on stopping the stone business of MAQ Enterprise and their confiscation and auction in the area.

A six-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain came up with the stay order following an appeal filed by BIWTA challenging the HC order of status quo.

BIWTA's lawyer Manzill Murshid told The Daily Star that there is no legal bar for his client to stop stone business of MAQ Enterprise and to confiscate and auction the stone at the foreshore of Buriganga River in Munshikhola following the apex court order.

He said the High Court in a landmark verdict in 2009 in the case involving four rivers --Buriganga, Turag, Balu and Shitalakhya-- issued nine directives to protect and save them from encroachment and pollution.

One of the directives was to determine their boundaries through conducting survey in line with CS Map, setting up boundary pillars in the rivers and to evict illegal structures constructed in their boundaries.

In compliance with this HC directive, BIWTA on July 22, 2019 confiscated 20,000 tons of stone of MAQ Enterprise and stopped its business and auctioned them and ordered the company to relocate their structures from the foreshore of Buriganga River in Munshikhola area under Kadamtali police station by August 5, 2019 as the company (MAQ Enterprise) grabbed the land illegally, Manzill Murshid said.