Eviction drive in Dhaka’s Mirpur-11: contempt of court plea filed against DNCC mayor
A contempt of court petition was filed with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court today against Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) Mayor Atiqul Islam and six others on charge of conducting an eviction drive in Dhaka's Mirpur-11 ignoring its chamber judge's order of status quo on the eviction.
The six others are chief estate officer of DNCC Mozammel Haque, its chief engineer Brigadier General Aminul Islam, commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Shafiqul Islam, its deputy commissioner (Mirpur zone) Mahtab Uddin, councilor of Ward-5 of DNCC Abdur Rauf and officer-in-charge of Mirpur Police Station Kazi Wazed Ali.
Masud Alam, Md Jiban and Md Nader Hossain submitted the petition to the apex court, saying that the respondents evicted them from their designated (Bihari) camp on January 21 and 22 by willful disobedience of court's order though they showed the order.
The respondents have not honoured the court's order which is a contempt of court, and so, they may be punished as per law, petitioner's lawyer Sagir Hossain Leon told The Daily Star, citing the petition.
After a brief hearing on the petition, chamber judge of the Appellate Division Justice Md Nuruzzaman today sent the petition to its full bench for hearing on the matter on April 11.
Lawyer Sagir Hossain Leon said the High Court Division of the SC in a verdict in 2018 had cleared the way for the authorities concerned to evict the Bihari camp in block-C of Mirpur-11.
Later residents of the camp filed a petition with the Appellate Division seeking stay on the HC verdict. Following the stay petition, the chamber judge of the Appellate Division on October 6, 2018 issued an order of status quo on the eviction drive.
In continuation of the case, the apex court chamber judge on October 29, 2020 issued another order of status quo on the eviction till May 2 this year.
READ MORE: DNCC eviction drive continues
In the meantime, the respondents have conducted the eviction drive and demolished around 300 structures including 150 shops in violation of the chamber judge's order, the lawyer added.
He said the petitioners prayed to the Appellate Division to issue a contempt of court rule against the respondents and to summon them to appear before the court for giving explanation on the issue.
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