HC asks Rajuk to stop unauthorised housing projects’ activities

The High Court on Wednesday directed the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) to immediately stop all activities of unauthorised housing projects including their earth-filling, advertisements, and selling of plots in and around the capital.

In response to a writ petition, the court stayed for three months the operation of site clearance certificate (SCC) issued by the Department of Environment (DoE) to Asian City, a housing company, to establish the housing project at Uttara and its order of renewal of SCC.

The DoE had issued the SCC to Asian City on December 24, 2009 and renewed it on June 12 last year.

The HC also stayed an order of the ministry of environment that reduced the amount of money which was fined by DoE to the housing company for illegally filling water bodies for the housing project.

DoE had filed Tk 50 lakh to Asian City on November 16, 2011 and the ministry of environment reduced the amount to Tk five lakh on February 14 last year.

An HC bench issued a rule upon the authorities concerned of the government and Asian City to explain in four weeks why the issuance of SCC to Asian City and its renewal and reducing the amount of fine should not be declared illegal.

In the rule, the bench of Justice Mirza Hussain Haider and Justice Khurshid Alam Khan asked the managing director of Asian City to explain why he should not be directed to remove the earth from the place of its housing project at Uttara to bring its original position.a

Source:The Daily Star