HC asks govt to submit all milk test reports by Sunday
Friday, 7 November 2008
The High Court (HC) Thursday directed the government to produce by November 9 (Sunday) all the four sets of reports of laboratory test done at home and abroad on the eight brands of melamine-tainted powdered milk, reports UNB.
A division bench comprising Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice Quamrul Islam Siddiqui passed the interim order following a supplementary application on the pending public interest litigation (PIL) writ petition, filed by Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB).
The government meanwhile obtained the test reports on the questionable eight brands from the Dhaka University, BSTI, Atomic Energy Commission and Bangkok. The brands tested are Yashili-1, Yashili-2 and Sweet Baby-2 of China, Diploma and Red Cow of Australia, Dano of Denmark, and Nido and Anlene of New Zealand.
Moving the supplementary application, Manzill Murshid, the HRPB counsel, submitted that the chairman of the Department of Chemistry of Dhaka University had disclosed that toxic melamine was found in seven of the brands as per the laboratory test report in Thailand, but the government kept mum about this.
Earlier the Atomic Energy Commission also submitted an identical report, he said.
The counsel told the court that the government actions appeared to hide something, as it tends to take decisions on the issue bypassing the opinion of the expert committee.
Moreover, he said, the reports were not made available to the media, and as a result, the whole matter is shrouded in mystery.
However, lawyers for the suspected Dano, Red Cow and Nido, who were allowed to become additional party in the writ, submitted before the court that the laboratory test reports found melamine in only three brands of powdered milk.
They said the embargo on the other suspected brands - Dano, Red Cow and Nido - should be lifted, as the children are suffering in absence of their sale, and the businessmen are incurring losses due to the embargo on their sale, display and marketing.
A division bench comprising Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice Quamrul Islam Siddiqui passed the interim order following a supplementary application on the pending public interest litigation (PIL) writ petition, filed by Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB).
The government meanwhile obtained the test reports on the questionable eight brands from the Dhaka University, BSTI, Atomic Energy Commission and Bangkok. The brands tested are Yashili-1, Yashili-2 and Sweet Baby-2 of China, Diploma and Red Cow of Australia, Dano of Denmark, and Nido and Anlene of New Zealand.
Moving the supplementary application, Manzill Murshid, the HRPB counsel, submitted that the chairman of the Department of Chemistry of Dhaka University had disclosed that toxic melamine was found in seven of the brands as per the laboratory test report in Thailand, but the government kept mum about this.
Earlier the Atomic Energy Commission also submitted an identical report, he said.
The counsel told the court that the government actions appeared to hide something, as it tends to take decisions on the issue bypassing the opinion of the expert committee.
Moreover, he said, the reports were not made available to the media, and as a result, the whole matter is shrouded in mystery.
However, lawyers for the suspected Dano, Red Cow and Nido, who were allowed to become additional party in the writ, submitted before the court that the laboratory test reports found melamine in only three brands of powdered milk.
They said the embargo on the other suspected brands - Dano, Red Cow and Nido - should be lifted, as the children are suffering in absence of their sale, and the businessmen are incurring losses due to the embargo on their sale, display and marketing.