The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court yesterday upheld the HC order asking the authorities concerned to remove all the illegal stairs installed at different points of Mayor Mohammad Hanif Flyover’s Jatrabari-Syedabad section.

A three-member Appellate Division bench headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha came up with order after dismissing a leave-to-appeal by Orion Infrastructure Limited, the company that built the flyover and the stairs.

In its order, Chief Justice Sinha-led bench observed that no country in the world had such stairs attached to a flyover for pedestrians.

Earlier on May 31, in a suo-moto move, the High Court ordered to remove within two weeks the stairs that were not part of the structural plan, saying they were risky and causing accidents.

The HC bench asked the home secretary, commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, mayor of Dhaka South City Corporation and Orion Infrastructure Limited to demolish the stairs from the flyover and submit a compliance report before it by July 2. In a rule, it also asked the authorities concerned to explain in four weeks as to why they should not be directed to remove the stairs permanently.

The HC bench came up with the order after taking into the cognisance a report headlined ‘Mayor Mohamamd Hanif Flyover: None took action against illegal stairs!’ published on May 28.

However, the chamber judge of the Appellate Division stayed the High Court order after Orion moved a leave-to-appeal petition seeking a stay order on the HC order. The chamber court also sent the petition to regular bench of the Appellate Division for its hearing.

Barrister Rokanuddin Mahmud moved for the Orion Infrastructure Limited while Attorney General Mahbubey Alam stood for the state.

Talking to the reporters, Deputy Attorney General SM Moniruzzaman said that the government had presented photographic evidence of the stairs built at various points on the flyover.

“The stairs are risky and causes accidents. The state had also petitioned for their removal. Following

the Supreme Court’s decision, the management is obligated to remove the stairs,” he added.

The petition said buses and other public transports would stop on the flyover to allow passengers to  disembark, giving rise to accidents and traffic congestion.

Dhaka South City Corporation Chief Engineer Forazi Mohammad Shahabuddin had earlier said that the stairs were not on the original design and that the Orion management had built them illegally, which is

very much risky for the pedestrians.