Tannery relocation
Arrest warrant against three owners
The High Court yesterday issued arrest warrants against three tannery owners in Hazaribagh for not complying with its earlier order to move their factories to Savar and not appearing before the court despite a summons order.
The three facing arrest are Abdul Wadud Mia, proprietor of M/S Mahin Tannery; Abdul Wahab, proprietor of M/S Nabipur Tannery, and Mafiz Mia, proprietor of M/S Asia Tannery. During the contempt petition hearing, the HC bench comprising Justice Syed Muhammad Dastagir Husain and Justice AKM Shahidul Huq also asked three other tannery owners, who appeared before the cour yesterday, to be sent to the lower court as they failed to give explanations over not relocation of their tanneries as per the court order. The tannery owners are Mahbubur Rahman Panna, proprietor of M/S Pubali Tanneries, Giasuddin Ahmed Pathan, managing director of Rumi Leather Industries Ltd, and Akbar Hossain, managing director of M/S Paramount Tannery. However, following an unconditional apology by the three, the bench, in the afternoon, asked them to appear before the court today (Monday) and explain their position over implementing a 2001 High Court judgement, said, petitioners lawyer Advocate Manzill Murshid. The High Court also asked Arefin Shamsul Al Amin, managing director of Rana Leather Industries Ltd, to appear before it on May 3, as he is now abroad.
On March 23, in response to a contempt petition, the HC summoned 10 tannery owners to appear in person before it on April 10 to explain their position over not implementing its earlier order for shifting their tanneries from Hazaribagh to Savar.
Earlier, on August 11 last year, in response to a contempt petition filed by HRPB, the HC had issued a rule asking the 10 tannery owners to explain in two weeks why contempt of court proceedings should not be brought against them for creating obstruction in implementation of its 2001 judgement. Despite the HC rule, the tannery owners did not shift their factories. Hence, another contempt petition was filed on March 21 seeking order for tannery owners to appear in person before the court. Advocate Manzil Murshid, counsel for the petitioner, told reporters that in 2011, the HC directed the government to relocate the tanneries located in Hazaribagh to Savar within two years. Earlier, in 2009, the HC had directed the government to relocate the tanneries from Hazaribagh to save the Buriganga River from pollution by February 2010. The same court later extended the deadline for six months. But the government could not implement the directives as the tannery owners did not shift their tanneries, which is a contempt of court, Manzil said.
