The High Court yesterday summoned Liberal Democratic Party chief Col (retd) Oli Ahmed to appear before it on February 28 to explain his role in constructing a resort on the Cox's Bazar beach in violation of environmental laws.
The suo moto rule came following a report published in The Daily Star under the headline "Oli's castle on beach" yesterday.
As per the report, lawmaker Oli Ahmed without any permission from the authorities concerned has built a four-storey structure at a site that falls in an ecologically critical area on the Cox's Bazar beach. Any type of construction there is prohibited by Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act, 1995 (amendment 2010).
The court yesterday directed the deputy commissioner (DC) and the superintendent of police (SP) of Cox's Bazar district to prevent further construction of the resort.
The HC bench of Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury Manik and Justice Jahangir Hossain Selim issued a rule upon Oli Ahmed to explain in 12 days why legal action should not be taken against him for the illegal construction. Besides, it asked for an explanation from the authorities concerned within the period as to why they should not be ordered to demolish the resort.
The land secretary and the environment secretary as well as DC and SP of Cox's Bazar were made respondents to the rule.
Supreme Court lawyers Manzill Murshid and Iqbal Kabir Lytton and Deputy Attorney General ABM Altaf Hossain had placed the newspaper report before the judges.
The lawyers told the court that nobody can construct structures on ecologically critical areas and the government should collect compensation under the relevant laws from the people, who were damaging soil and environment in such areas.