The High Court Division on Thursday directed each of the 154 tannery owners still running their factories at Hazaribagh to pay a daily fine of Tk 50,000 to government until their factories were shifted to the tannery park at Savar. A bench of Justice Syed Muhammad Dastagir Husain and Justice AKM Shahidul Huq issued the order after the industries ministry secretary submitted the list of the noncompliant tannery factory owners. In a public interest petition filed on May 13, Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh had sought the directive on the industries ministry secretary to submit the list of tannery owners still running their factories at Hazaribagh flouting HC directives. The court directed the noncompliant factory owners to deposit their daily fines in the account of the industries ministry. The court directed industries ministry secretary Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan to monitor whether or not the errant tannery owners were depositing the daily fines in the industries ministry’s account and submit a compliance report on July 15. The errant tannery owners are running their factories at Hazaribagh flouting orders issued by the High Court Division since 2001 that required relocation of the tannery factories within two years. In the order issued in 2001 after hearing a public interest litigation writ petition of Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers’ Association, the High Court Division also directed the government to ensure that the tanneries were shifted to Savar within two years to save the Buriganga River and the capital’s environment from pollution. Out of 155 tannery owners, only one complied with the HC directive and shifted his factory to the tannery park at Savar, industries ministry’s lawyer Rais Uddin Ahmad informed the court. Rais submitted the list of the tannery owners on behalf of the industries ministry secretary in compliance with a previous directive from the High Court Division. The lawyer also informed the court that the government gave Tk 1,000 crore to the tannery owners to shift their factories to Savar. He also informed the court that the government set up a central effluent treatment plant at the tannery park at Savar spending a huge sum of money. Thursday’s proceedings took place on the petition of HRPB. In his submissions, petitioner’s lawyer Manzill Murshid sought imposition of daily fine of Tk one lakh on each noncompliant tannery owner. Bangladesh Tanners’ Association general secretary Shawkat Ullah told New Age that he heard about the latest High Court directive from the media. He said that the owners association would take the next step after seeing the HC directive.
