Uttara, Purbachal
Rajuk extends time for plot application
Staff Correspondent
Due to huge rush of applicants, Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) yesterday extended the time limit both for collecting and submitting application forms for plots at Purbachal New Town project and Uttara Model Town (Third phase).
Rajuk officials said the last date for procuring forms is now January 14 and that for submitting those is January 15, instead of December 17 and 18 as per the previous announcement. Thousands of people yesterday gathered at different banks to collect and submit the forms.
Meanwhile, sudden announcement of extension of the time limit created mixed reaction among those who were in long queues since morning. Many of them expressed happiness while many others resented that they had to return without submitting applications as banks stopped receiving those soon after the announcement.
“I spent over four hours in a queue till 3:00 pm at Karwan Bazar branch of Standard Chartered Bank but I am returning without submitting my application as the bank officials declined to accept it as soon as they came to know about extension of time limit,” said Md Farhad, an LLB student, who came from Brahmanbaria.
He came to Dhaka on Tuesday night just to submit application, he said.
Two others –Rokon Uddin and Zahir r Raihan– looked happy as they could submit their applications at about 3:00 pm after struggling for over eight hours.
“I was in the queue from 7:00 am and found me behind more than 150 people. Many of them came around 5:00 am,” said Rokon, an engineer working at Haripur Power Plant.
Md Harun, a resident of Mohammadpur in the capital, said, “It is impossible for me to submit application by December 18 as I could not manage necessary documents. Now I have got an opportunity to do so.”
Meanwhile, the High Court (HC) yesterday issued a rule upon the Rajuk and the government to explain within four weeks why the November 26 notification inviting applications for allotment of housing plots at extended Uttara third phase project should not be declared illegal.
In the rule, the HC bench comprising Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice Quamrul Islam Siddiqui also asked the government to show cause as to why its action cancelling the plots allotted earlier in February 2007 should not be declared to have done without lawful authority.
The HC rule came upon a writ petition filed by barrister Ruhul Quddus, a Supreme Court lawyer, who got a plot at the same project in 2006, which was later cancelled.
The petitioner stated in the petition that Rajuk in 2004 published a notice inviting applications for allotment of housing plots at the extended Uttara third phase project in Dhaka. Accordingly, the petitioner said, he and others applied for plots to the authorities concerned.
On October 6, 2006, the authorities published separate notices in the newspapers mentioning the names of the applicants who were allotted plot at the project, he said.
After assumption of the present caretaker government, the authorities concerned cancelled a good number plots and again allotted plots against some of the deprived applicants, the petition added.
Ruhul Quddus filed the writ petition with the HC challenging the legality of these actions of Rajuk.
Advocate Toufiq Inam appeared for the petitioner.
Courtesy: thedailystar.net
