RHD on SC Land
Officials get 7 days to return land
The High Court yesterday gave the government officials concerned seven days to return Supreme Court's 7.9-acre land, where Roads and Highways Department is situated.
It may be mentioned that, on July 28 last year, the SC had fixed 15 days for the return.
Hearing a contempt of court rule yesterday, the HC also directed four government officials to appear and submit a report to it after returning the land to the SC registrar's office on February 23.
The four officials will face serious consequences if they do not comply, added the HC bench of Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudury Manik and Justice Jahangir Hossain Selim.
The four, kept standing in the dock from 11:00am to 4:30pm, with a one-hour break, yesterday for defying the apex court's order, assured to compliance.
The officials are -- Communications Secretary MAN Siddique, RHD Chief Engineer Aminur Rahman Laskar, Additional Chief Engineer Mafizul Islam and Superintendent Engineer Faridul Alam.
SC lawyer Asaduzzaman Siddiqui filed the petition on February 14 saying the respondents had not returned the land despite the SC order, which amounts to contempt of court.
Within hours the HC issued a rule upon the four to explain why they should not be punished and fixed yesterday's date for them to appear before it.
Advocate Manzill Murshid represented the petitioner, advocate Anisul Huq the four and Deputy Attorney General ABM Altaf Hossain the government.
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