Status quo on appointing bus operators for 5 Bangladesh-India routes
The High Court today directed the authorities concerned to maintain status quo for a month on the government’s initiative for appointing bus operators for five routes between Bangladesh and India for two years without fixing the bus fares for passengers.
The routes are Dhaka-Kolkata-Dhaka; Agartala-Dhaka-Kolkata-Agartala; Dhaka-Khulna-Kolkata-Dhaka; Dhaka-Agartala-Dhaka; and Dhaka-Sylhet-Shilong-Guwhati-Dhaka.
The bench of Justice Md Rezaul Haque and Justice Mohammad Ullah passed the order following a petition filed by Bangladesh Passengers Welfare Samity’s General Secretary Md Mozammel Hoque Chowdhury challenging the legality of the tender for operating buses on the five international routes
The deputy general manager (operation) of Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) issued the tender notice on July 4.
Petitioner’s lawyer Barrister ABM Altaf Hossain told The Daily Star that the BTRC cannot go ahead with the tender following the HC order.
Advocate Arpon Chakarabarti and Advocate ARM Kamruzaman also appeared for the petitioner.
Earlier on July 27 following a writ petition, the HC issued a rule asking the government to show causes why invitation of bids for operating buses on the five international routes without fixing bus fares should not be declared illegal and why it should not be directed to fix and publish specific bus fares before initiating the tender process for the five routes.
The court also ordered the authorities to dispose of the application of the petitioner for stopping overcharging of the passengers of the five routes.
Comments