Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association is getting ready to file a petition with the Supreme Court seeking one more year for relocating its office building from Hatirjheel area of Dhaka.Talking to the daily sun on Saturday, BGMEA Vice-president (Finance) Mohammed Nasir said, “We told our lawyers to get ready for submitting a petition seeking one year time extension for relocating office building”.BGMEA lawyer Barrister Imtiaz Moinul Islam told the daily sun, “We are getting prepared for submitting the petition for one year extension by April 1-2.”“There are some updates we want to inform the Supreme Court that the BGMEA new office building construction is under process,” he added.He said they appealed to the relevant branch of the Appellate Division on March 5 for an extension of one year and at the same date they also made it out of list.Their current extension will be end on April 11, he said.Sources said the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) has allocated a land in Sector 13 of Uttara in Dhaka for constructing the BGMEA office complex. But BGMEA needs more one year time for relocating its 15-storey building from Hatirjheel area.The BGMEA has created a fund for constructing its new office-building and the construction work is going on.On October 8, 2017, the court gave seven-month time to BGMEA from September 12, which means six months and four days are left for the relocation since that day.The court, in its order, said: “This is the last chance.No extra time will be granted [to BGMEA in this regard].”On March 5 last year, the Appellate Division rejected the review petition for the verdict on demolition of the project.At that time, the BGMEA authorities had appealed for a period of three years. Then, on March 12 of the same year, the Appellate Division rejected the appeal and gave them six-month time instead.Earlier, on April 3, 2011, the High Court ordered the BGMEA to proceed with demolition work. Later, the BGMEA authorities filed a leave to appeal against the court verdict. Dismissing the leave to appeal, the Appellate Division declared in favour of the verdict.According to the full verdict of the Appellate Division, the BGMEA has been ordered to demolish the 15-storey building named ‘BGMEA Complex’ which stands on a critical spot in the capital, blocking the connection between two large water bodies – Hatirjheel lake and Begunbari canal. If BGMEA would fail to follow through, Rajuk was instructed to take over the work within 90 days of receiving the copy of the verdict. In this case, they would get the cost of the demolition from BGMEA.The BGMEA building was built about two decades ago, endangering wetlands in Dhaka. In 1998, then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina laid the foundation stone of the building. The construction began the same year. The building was inaugurated in 2006 by Khaleda Zia as the prime minister.The High Court ordered it to be demolished in 2011 as the building was constructed in violation of the law. The Appellate Division in June last year upheld the verdict.In October 2010, the High Court issued a rule asking why the building should not be demolished.The rule came after a lawyer presented a report carried by an English daily on the BGMEA Complex.The court then sought explanations from the secretary of the public works ministry, RAJUK, BGMEA president, district administration and Dhaka metro police commissioner.
