Stop hill cutting in Cox's Bazar: HC

The High Court today directed the government to immediately stop cutting and destroying hills at Jhilonja Mouza in Cox's Bazar.

In response to a writ petition, the court ordered the administration to take legal actions against the people who are responsible for damaging the hills.

A division bench comprising Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Md Ashraful Kamal directed the authorities to submit a report after complying with the order before it in two months.

The bench also issued a rule asking the government to explain in three weeks as to why its inaction to prevent cutting and damaging hill should not be declared illegal.

In the rule, the court asked the authorities to show causes as to why they would not be directed to declare the area where the hills were damaged, as an ecologically typical area.

The HC bench came up with order and rule after hearing the writ petition by Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers' Association (Bela). The organisation submitted the petition to the HC on Monday saying that a private company named Uttaran Grihayan Somobay Samiti has been cutting and damaging the hills at Jhilonja Mouza, measuring 87.10 acres illegally.

The department of environment fined the company with Tk 2.86 crore in 2011 for cutting the hills and damaging the environment.

The petitioner's lawyer, Iqbal Kabir Lytton, prayed to the court to pass necessary directives to stop the illegal hill encroachment.