HC questions legality of changing Purbachal Town Project’s layout

The High Court (HC) today questioned the legality of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartipakkha’s (Rajuk) action to create and allocate new plots through changing the layout plan at Purbachal New Town Project.

The court issued a rule asking the government and Rajuk authorities to explain in eight weeks why Rajuk’s reported action to create and allocate new plots changing the layout plan and ignoring the Supreme Court (SC) directive should not be declared illegal.

The HC bench of Justice FRM Nazmul Ahasan and Justice KM Kamrul Kader came up with the rule following a writ petition filed by Supreme Court lawyer Purnindu Bikash Das, challenging the legality of Rajuk’s action.

Advocate Purnindu filed the petition today as public interest litigation following a report published on The Daily Samakal on March 3 under the headline “84 plots allocated secretly”.

The report said Rajuk has created around 100 new plots through changing the layout plan and ignoring the SC directive. The plots at 10 bigha of land have already been allocated secretly to the customers, according to the report.

During hearing of the petition Advocate Purnindu told HC that as per the SC directive, Rajuk cannot change the layout plan and create any new plot at Purbachal New Town Project without prior permission of the SC.

Deputy Attorney General Abdullah Al Mahmud Bashar opposed the petition saying that Rajuk has neither created any new plot nor changed the layout plan at Purbachal New Town Project.

Some of the plots might have been classified, he argued.

Secretaries to the ministries of housing and public works, land and environment and forest, SC registrar general, Rajuk chairman and editor and reporter concerned of The Daily Samakal have been made respondents to the rule, Advocate Purnindu told The Daily Star.