The High Court on Wednesday banned all kinds of advertisement of unauthorised housing projects.
The bench of Justice AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury and Justice Jahangir Hossain also asked the government stop all activities, including earth filling, of the housing projects that are not authorised by Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha. Observing that the unauthorised housing projects are causing enormous sufferings to the people and are damaging the environment and the ecology, the court ordered the secretaries to the housing and public works, the land, the environment and forest and the information ministry, the department of environment director general, the Rajuk chairman and the Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh president to take stern legal action immediately against publicity, earth filling and any activities of such housing projects.
Newspapers and the electronic media will have to check the documents of approval of each of the housing projects before running their advertisement, the court said in its verdict in a public interest litigation writ petition filed by green group Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers’ Association, Bangladesh Paribesh Andolan and Save the Environment Movement.
During the hearing in the case, Rajuk informed the court that it had already submitted a list of unauthorised housing projects to the print and electronic media so that the media do not publish their advertisements.
The three green groups on June 16 filed the writ petition seeking a directive on the government to implement the court’s June 8 verdict that had declared illegal 77 housing projects in and around the capital city. After a preliminary hearing on the petition on June 16, the bench of Justice AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury and Justice Gobinda Chandra Tagore asked the Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh not to allow companies having unauthorised housing projects to participate in its fair.
It also issued a rule asking the government to explain why its failure in stopping advertisements and other activities of illegal housing projects should not be declared unlawful and against public interest.
During hearing on the rule, the petitioners’ counsel Iqbal Kabir Liton told the court that the High Court bench of Justice AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury and Justice Gobinda Chandra Tagore on June 8 had directed Rajuk and the police to demolish within 30 days unapproved and unauthorised housing projects in and around Dhaka city.
It also directed the authorities to submit a compliance report to the court within 40 days.
The court issued the directives in its verdict in a public interest litigation writ petition of the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers’ Association’s executive director Syeda Rizawana Hasan, seeking directions on the government to stop all activities of unauthorised private housing companies.
The court directed the government to stop the real estate companies from developing land without approval, selling and advertising such plots on web sites, putting up hoardings or any other media in areas covered by the Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan.
The court also directed the government to prevent all unauthorised activities, proposed or being implemented, and to immediately remove all signboards and hoardings of unauthorised realtors and prohibit publication of their advertisements.
The court ordered the authorities to put up visible and legible notices prohibiting in clear terms dirt-filling for selling plots at all such sites.
Referring to the June 8 verdict, Iqbal Kabir on Wednesday argued that no visible actions had yet been taken by the authorities in implementing the High Court directives.
He told the court that many unauthorised private housing companies continued advertising and selling plots or flats in breach of the June 8 judgement.
In many cases, they have violated the Town Improvement Act, the master plan of Dhaka, Environment Conservation Act and private housing rules.
Rajuk’s counsel Maruf Hossain, however, argued that Rajuk had already prepared a list of unauthorised housing projects and supplied it to the newspapers and electronic media so that they could stop advertisement of such projects.
He also mentioned that Rajuk had already demolished the signboards and hoardings of a number of unauthorised housing projects.
REHAB’s counsel Mehedi Hasan argued that the association of the real estate developers had already issued notices asking the owners of unauthorised housing projects to explain their unauthorised activities.
It had also taken initiatives so that no company having unauthorised housing projects could take part in any of its fair.
-With New Age input
