BGMEA loses last legal battle [ Tritiyo Matra News ]

BGMEA loses last legal battle

Local March 06, 2017

The Appellate Division on Sunday rejected a petition filed by Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association for a review of its verdict that had upheld a High Court judgement ordering the demolition of 15-storey BGMEA Bhaban illegally constructed in Hatirjheel lake in the capital.
A three-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by chief justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, however, gave no timeframe for demolishing the building and asked the lawyer of the trade body to file a petition by Thursday mentioning the time it needed to demolish the building.
It also posted for Thursday the pronouncement of its decision on the matter.
The association president, Md Siddiqur Rahman, told reporters that they would file a petition on Thursday seeking three years to relocate their headquarters.
With the rejection of its review plea, the garment factory owners’ association lost the last legal battle to protect the building, about half of the space in which had been sold to 38 apparel companies and two private commercial banks.
The highest court of the country asked association’s lawyer Kamrul Hoque Siddiqui how much time the trade body needed to demolish the building.
Kamrul argued that the country’s export-oriented apparel sector was dependent on the building and the foreign buyers regularly visited the building.
He said that the association would need time to choose a suitable place and shift there.
The court asked why the association activities might not be in a rented building while the different countries were operating their embassies renting houses.
Replying to the court’s query, attorney general Mahbubey Alam said it would need at least one year to demolish the building.
The Court said that the High Court ordered the demolition of the building in 2011 and a long time had already passed.
Later, the attorney general told reporters that such a huge building would not have been built in a water body had the environmentalists been vocal against it during the construction.
Informing that they would seek three years to relocate the headquarters of
the association, its president Siddiqur Rahman said, ‘We are always respectful to the law. No temporary solution will work here as the country’s economy and employment depend on the readymade garment sector.’
Siddiqur said that it was not possible for the association to shift overnight as the trade body provided various services to its members including issuances of utilisation declaration and utilisation permissions for exports.
If the trade body does not get time for relocation, the image of the export-oriented apparel sector would be tarnished internationally and the export would decline, he observed.
On April 3, 2011, the High Court ordered the government to demolish the BGMEA building within 90 days.
The High Court had called the building ‘a cancerous growth’ that eclipsed Hatirjheel, a beauty spot of the capital.
On June 2, 2016, the Appellate Division rejected the association’s petition filed in May 2013 challenging the High Court judgement.
On December 8, 2016, the association filed the petition for a review of the June 2, 2016 order of the Appellate Division upholding the High Court judgement.
In the 2011 judgement, the High Court declared the BGMEA building illegal as the association could produce no document to show that the building was built on its land and asked the association to return money to buyers of commercial spaces in building within 12 months.
The High Court said that no private organisation could construct its building on the land as it belonged to the government.
The High Court pronounced the judgement disposing of ruling it issued suo moto on October 3, 2010 asking the government to explain why it should not be directed to dismantle the unauthorised multi-storey BGMEA Bhaban.
The ruling was issued following a report New Age published on October 2, 2010 under the headline ‘No plan to demolish unauthorised BGMEA building soon.’
In the verdict, the High Court said that the unauthorised BGMEA building was constructed on government land flouting the master plan for the development of the capital and several laws relating to protection of its environment and wetlands.
In 1998, the then prime minister Sheikh Hasina laid the foundation stone of the building.
In 2006, the then prime minister Khaleda Zia inaugurated the building.