BGMEA gets one more year to demolish Hatirjheel headquarters

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 DHAKA, April 2, 2018 (BSS) – The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court (SC) today granted one more year to Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) for demolishing its Hatirjheel headquarters.

A four-member Appellate Division bench headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain set April 12, 2019, as deadline to demolish the building as the trade association gave undertaking that it would not seek time in this purpose in future anymore.

“The order better be executed, mind it you are getting 12 months and ten days time,” Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain said while passing the order.

The apex court on March 27 ordered BGMEA counsel to submit an undertaking, saying they would not seek time anymore in the future. BGMEA submitted the undertaking the next day, but the Supreme Court had to adjourn the hearing till today as it asked the trade alliance to modify its undertaking.

Earlier on March 12, 2017, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court had granted BGMEA six months time to demolish its complex on Hatirjheel, rejecting a plea of the RMG producers’ seeking three years time.

But BGMEA on August 23 filed another plea seeking one-year more time in this regard.

BGMEA on March 5, 2017, lost its last legal battle to keep intact the structure on the scenic water body as the Appellate Division rejected its plea, seeking review of its judgment that upheld an earlier High Court verdict, ordering demolition of the structure.

The High Court on 2011 ordered demolition of the 16-floor building as it was constructed in defiance of relevant laws, calling it a “cancer” on the lake.

BGMEA later filed a leave to appeal petition with the Appellate Division against the High Court judgment but the apex court on June 2, 2016, dismissed the plea as well as asked the RMG producers association to demolish its headquarters at once and at its own cost.