The apex court has ordered the BGMEA to demolish its 16-storey office building at its own cost immediately, reports bdnews24.com. In June this year, the Supreme Court turned down a petition by apparel businesses challenging a High Court verdict, which ordered the demolition of the building in the city. In its full verdict, published on Tuesday, the Supreme Court said that if the trade body failed to carry out its directive, then the city development authority RAJUK would do it in 90 days and realise the entire cost involved in the demolition from the BGMEA. The multi-storied office building of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) was built in violation of the Wetlands Protection Act nearly two decades ago, thereby endangering wetlands at the capital’s Hatirjheel project. In 1998, then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina laid the foundation stone of the building. Construction work of the building began in November the same year. The building was inaugurated by Khaleda Zia, the then prime minister, in 2006. In October 2010, the High Court issued a rule asking why the building should not be razed. The rule came after a lawyer presented a report carried by an English language daily on the building. The court had then sought explanations from the secretary of the public works ministry, RAJUK, BGMEA president, district administration and Dhaka metro police commissioner.
