12 government officials face contempt charges
Tuesday, 4 March 2014
The High Court issued contempt of court rule against 12 senior government officials for violation of an earlier ruling against building any infrastructure on the lands of Forest Department in Cox’s Bazar district Tuesday.
The officials are Environment Secretary M Shafiqur Rahman, Housing Secretary M Golam Rabbani, Land Secretary Mokhlesur Rahman, Civil Aviation Secretary Khurshid Alam Chowdhury, chairman of Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation M MAkhsudul Hasan Khan, Chittagong Divisional Commissioner M Abdullah, director general of Department of Environment (DoE) M Raisul Alam Mandal, deputy commissioner of Cox’s Bazar Ruhul Amin, police superintendent Azad Miah of the district, Cox’s Bazar Sadar upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) Shahidul Islam and DoE director (Chittagong) M Zafar Alam.
The court asked the officials to explain in two weeks why punitive action should be taken against them on contempt of court charge.
A bench comprising Justice Md. Ashfaqul Islam and Justice Md. Ashraful Kamal issued the rule after preliminary hearing of a writ petition filed by Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA), according to a news agency.