Take down BIWTA recreation centre near Buriganga in 30 days: SC

The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the High Court order directing the government to remove the BIWTA recreation centre in the Buriganga River at Kamrangirchar in the capital within 30 days.
A four-member bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice SK Sinha, passed the order rejecting a petition filed by the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) against the High Court order.
Advocate Mofizur Rahman argued for BIWTA while advocate Manzill Murshid stood for the writ petitioner.
With the Appellate Division order, the BIWTA will have to remove its recreation centre within 30 days, said Manzill Murshid.
Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB), a rights watchdog, filed a public interest litigation (PIL) writ petition in May 2010 that the BIWTA had been constructing a recreation centre in the Buriganga.
On May 16, 2010, the HC asked the government to maintain a three-month status quo on construction of the recreation centre in the river.
Ordering the status quo, the HC also issued a rule upon the government to explain within three weeks why the impugned construction works should not be declared illegal.
On July 29, 2010, the HC asked the government to dismantle within a month the BIWTA’s under-construction recreation centre.
Later, the BIWTA filed an appeal with the Appellate Division.
-SS