Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association will file a review petition with the court to reconsider the verdict on demolishing BGMEA Complex, said Siddiqur Rahman, president of the trade body. “We will file the review petition in the first week of next month. I hope the court will reconsider our plea as the contribution of the garment sector to national exports is more than 80 percent,” Rahman said. The Supreme Court, in a full verdict released on November 8, ordered BGMEA to immediately demolish the 15-storey building at its own cost, which was constructed illegally on the Begunbari canal and Hatirjheel lake in the heart of the capital.Otherwise, Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha or Rajuk will do it within 90 days of receiving the order and realise the cost from BGMEA, it added.Amicus curiae advocate Manzill Murshid told The Daily Star that BGMEA can move a petition in 30 days, seeking a review of the verdict. A four-member Appellate Division bench headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha passed a short verdict on June 2, dismissing a BGMEA appeal and upholding an April 2011 High Court order. The HC verdict ordered the government to demolish the building within three months, saying it was built on land acquired through forgery and filled with earth illegally. Any commercial building changing the water bodies’ nature and character is unlawful and violates Environment Conservation Act 1995, it said. Also, the Export Promotion Bureau has no right to allot the property, it added. The construction violates ‘Section 3 of the Building Construction Act 195’ and other rules under it, reads the verdict. Moreover, the HC order was ‘well reasoned and based on proper appreciation of facts and circumstances as well as the law’, it said.
