A rights organisation yesterday filed a petition with the High Court against 11 government officials including five secretaries for not fully implementing its directives on protecting the four rivers in and around the capital from encroachment and pollution.
The officials facing the contempt of court charges are secretaries to the ministries of planning, finance, shipping, communications and water resources, directors general of departments of land record and survey, and environment, chairman of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority, and deputy commissioners of Dhaka, Narayanganj and Gazipur.
Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB) filed the petition seeking the court's order asking them to appear before it and explain why they did not fully comply with all its directives regarding the protection of the Buriganga, Shitalakkhya, Turag and Balu rivers.
In response to a writ petition filed by HRPB, the HC on June 25, 2009 ordered the government officials to take steps to remove all structures, piles of garbage and deposits of sand and soil from the rivers, setup boundary pillars, construct walkways on the bank of the rivers and dredge those by November 30, 2010.
Following a government petition, the HC on October 30 last year extended the deadline until May 30 this year.
Petitioner's counsel Manzill Murshid told The Daily Star that the respondents have started executing the HC directives. But they did not fully implement all the directives within the deadline, which "constitutes contempt of court".
Hearing on the contempt petition may be held today, he added.
Source : The Daily Star
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