The High Court on Wednesday ordered a halt to construction work on the dunes of Cox’s Bazar beach for eight weeks.
A High Court bench comprising Justice JBM Hassan and Justice Aziz Ahmed Bhuiyan passed the order on Wednesday.
Senior advocate Manzil Morshed appeared for the petitioner in the contempt proceedings, while advocate Minhajul Haque Chowdhury represented the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA). Attorney General Ruhul Quddus Kazal represented the state.
Manzil Morshed said the court issued a rule after hearing a contempt petition filed against four people, including the Cox’s Bazar deputy commissioner and the project director, over alleged violation of an earlier court judgment concerning construction work on the beach dunes.
The court also ordered that road construction work on the dunes of Cox’s Bazar remain suspended for eight weeks. It adjourned the contempt proceedings for the same period.
Morshed said the Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB) had filed the contempt petition in the public interest after media reports were published about construction work being carried out on the dunes in violation of the court’s earlier judgment.
BELA separately filed a writ petition seeking an order to stop activities under the project, he said.
In the writ petition filed by HRPB in the public interest, the High Court Division had earlier issued a rule and, after hearing the matter, directed in 2011 that the natural features of Cox’s Bazar beach be preserved and all structures built on the dunes be removed.
Following the court’s directives, various structures erected on the dunes had been removed in two separate drives, Morshed said.
Despite the earlier directives, the Cox’s Bazar municipality later undertook a project to construct a road through the dunes, he said.
The latest court order came against the backdrop of the ongoing legal proceedings over the construction work on the beach dunes.
By Abdur Rashid Manik
Photo: Collected
