The High Court (HC) has set December 4 for delivering its verdict on a writ petition challenging the legality of the government's move to award the container-handling contract of the New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT) at Chattogram port to a foreign company.
A division bench comprising Justice Fatema Najib and Justice Fatema Anwar fixed the date on Tuesday after concluding hearings on a rule issued earlier in response to the petition.
Following a preliminary hearing, the HC bench on July 30 questioned the government's decision to initiate a process to hand over NCT's container-handling operations to a foreign operator.
The court issued a rule asking the relevant government bodies to explain why the Chittagong Port Authority's (CPA) move to begin the process in violation of the Bangladesh Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Act, 2015 should not be declared illegal.
The rule also sought to know why the respondents should not be directed to invite and conduct a fair and competitive public tender to appoint a container terminal-handling operator for the NCT.
The shipping secretary, CPA chairman, and the chief executive officer of the PPP Authority were asked to respond to the rule.
During the hearing, lawyer Ahsanul Karim, representing the petitioners, told the court that the former Awami League government had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with UAE-based DP World over the operation of the NCT "without issuing any open tender".
He argued that it was expected the current interim government would cancel the MoU signed by what he termed the "fascist regime" in 2019. "However, instead of halting the process, the interim government is continuing with it," he added.
Another counsel for the petitioners, Barrister Kayser Kamal, argued that under existing law, only a cabinet formed under an elected parliament can approve a PPP project of this scale.
"Although the present interim government was formed with the support of all active political parties, it was not directly elected by the people. Therefore, it does not have the authority to proceed with such a deal," he said.
He added that the decision should be left for a future elected cabinet after the next parliamentary election.
Opposing the petition, Attorney General Md Asaduzzaman said the government had not yet made any decision regarding the contract and that the process remained at a "premature stage".
"The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that there is no scope for judicial review at such an early stage of a government initiative," he said.
Regarding criticism over selecting a foreign operator, the attorney general said: "The law permits this."
The New Mooring Container Terminal, constructed in 2007 at a cost of Tk 27.12 billion, handles a large share of Chattogram port's import and export containers.
The terminal was previously operated by Saif Powertech Limited, whose contract expired on July 6 this year. It is currently being run by Chattogram Dry Dock Limited, a Bangladesh Navy-owned company.
The then government signed a MoU with DP World on February 17, 2019 to operate the terminal under a PPP arrangement. The CPA has since moved to proceed with awarding the contract to the UAE-based company. The legality of this initiative is now under judicial scrutiny.
The writ petition was filed on March 20 by Bangladesh Jubo Arthanitibid Forum, a philanthropic organisation, as a public interest litigation. It seeks a directive ensuring fair, transparent, and competitive public bidding before appointing any container terminal-handling operator for the NCT.
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