Begunbari-Hatirjheel Road
HC stays plot allotment
The High Court yesterday stayed the allotment process of plots allegedly prepared on a proposed 60-feet-wide road of the capital's Begunbari-Hatirjheel development project.
Issuing a suomoto order based on a newspaper report, the court said the stay order will remain in force till further orders.
It also summoned six people, including former BNP state ministers Ziaul Haque Zia and Maj (retd) Kamrul Islam, to appear on May 16 to explain their roles in “illegally and improperly” allocating and receiving the plots.
The four others are Ziaul's son Joy, Kamrul's wife Nazma Islam, the Rajuk chairman and the public works department chief engineer.
The court asked the chairman to submit a report to it by May 16 on whether any other plots were prepared on the proposed roads, their numbers, whether they were handed over and names of the receivers.
It issued a rule upon the authorities concerned to explain why the allocation of the plots should not be cancelled.
It also asked the authorities concerned of the government and Anti Corruption Commission to explain why they should not be directed to prosecute those responsible for making the plots.
The court requested Prof Dr Sarwar Jahan of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology and Abul Hasnat of Department of Architecture to be present to provide their opinion on the development of the capital's roads.
The HC bench of Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury Manik and Justice Jahangir Hossain Selim came up with the order following a report published on the daily Samakal on March 24, 2010.
Headlined “Sarak prokolpo ratarati hoye gelo shilpo plot” (road project became industrial plot overnight), the report said the BNP-led four-party alliance government allocated the road to the state ministers in 2006, violating a plan of 1994.
A 10-katha plot was given to Nazma, director of Famous Fashions Limited, and two plots on one and a quarter bighas of land were given to Joy at a very minimal cost, it said.
Joy and Nazma got the land at Tk 1.25 lakh per katha though the market price was around Tk 1 crore, it added.
Assistant Attorney General Yeadia Zaman yesterday placed the report before the HC bench for necessary orders.
She said “a conscious citizen” brought the report to her notice and requested her to place it before the HC.
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