The High Court yesterday issued a contempt of court rule against four secretaries and chairman of Rajuk for not complying with its earlier directives for establishing a National Building Code Enforcement Authority to ensure health and safety of construction workers.
In the rule, the court asked them to explain in two weeks why they should not be prosecuted for committing contempt of court by failing to comply with the directives in 2010. The contemnors are Housing and Public Works Secretary Khondker Shawkat Hossain, Labour and Employment Secretary Mikail Shipar, Industries Secretary Mohammad Moinuddin Abdullah, Environment and Forests Secretary Shafiqur Rahman and Rajuk Chairman Nurul Huda.
The HC came up with the rule following a petition filed by rights bodies -- BLAST and Safety and Rights Society -- on May 27, saying that the officials had not implemented the HC directives, though they were aware of those.
On October 13, 2010, the HC had directed the government to establish the  enforcement authority under the Bangladesh National Building Code.
It had ordered them to assign within three months the Rajuk, Chittagong Development Authority, Khulna Development Authority and Rajshahi Development Authority, Barisal City Corporation and Sylhet City Corporation to work as the code enforcement agency until the National Building Code Enforcement Authority is established, and to submit reports on the progress in this regard in every three months to this court.