THE High Court has rightly issued a warning against bureaucrats, noting that any negligence to protect the environment would entail action against the officials who would fail to comply with court orders in this connection. The bench sounded the warnings as it heard a petition that legal aid organisation Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh filed seeking the enforcement of earlier court orders. Divisional commissioners of Dhaka, Chattogram and Khulna, deputy commissioners of Lalmonirhat and Kurigram and upazila nirbahi officers of Savar and Dhamrai appeared in court on February 24 in compliance with its January 29 order. The High Court on November 13, 2022 ordered the institution of oversight teams for divisional commissioners to pull down brick kilns and stop the use of wood as fuel in all divisions in a week, giving the authorities two weeks to submit compliance reports. The divisional commissioners, instead of complying with the court order, resubmitted their previous report without taking any enforcement action. The court has also ordered the divisional commissioners and the upazila nirbahi officers to separately submit affidavits by March 17 on the compliance with its directive.
The court has also summoned divisional commissioners of Mymensingh, Rangpur, Rajshahi, Barisal and Sylhet and the director general of the environment department for March 17 with reports on the details of the demolition of illegal brick kilns. The High Court has also asked the deputy commissioner of Gazipur to find another site for waste disposal as the city corporation keeps dumping wastes on both sides of the Dhaka鈥揗ymensingh Highway, exposing both public health and the environment to grave risks. The court has directed the deputy commissioner to visit the site and take early action. Official reports say that there are many illegal brick kilns in operation. There were 976 illegal brick kilns in the Chattogram division and 249 of them have been pulled down. There were 886 illegal brick kilns in the Khulna division and 386 of them have been pulled down; the fate of 106 brick kilns is stuck in pending writ petitions. There are 103 illegal brick kilns in the Dhaka division. In Gazipur, there were 75 illegal brick kilns and only seven of them could be pulled down. The issue of brick kilns, which severely add to air pollution, has become a pressing issue as Bangladesh often earns a place among the countries with the most air pollution in the world.
In such a situation, the authorities keep failing to comply with court orders to sustainably stop air pollution. The court could, therefore, consider drawing contempt proceedings against public officials and agencies for further compliance failure.
