High Court gives two more weeks to list Karnaphuli encroachers

The High Court has given two more weeks to file a list of illegal occupiers after surveying the boundary of the Karnaphuli river on its southern and eastern banks in Chattogram.

A High Court bench of Justice J B M Hassan and Justice Aziz Ahmed Bhuiyan passed the order on Sunday (8 November). The order was given to the Chattogram district administration.

In a public interest case filed by HRPB to protect the Karnaphuli river, the High Court on 14 November 2023 issued a rule and gave three months to file the list of illegal occupiers on the southern and eastern banks of the river and the survey report, along with several directives.

Those directives also ordered measures to protect the Karnaphuli river in line with the survey.

But no report has yet been filed in court under those directives. The court passed Sunday's order on an application by HRPB.

Senior lawyer Manzill Murshid said the court had directed in 2023 that the river boundary be surveyed and a report filed in court to protect the Karnaphuli. But no report has been filed in court to date.

Because of that, he said, encroachment and pollution of the Karnaphuli river continue, and this is having a serious impact on the residents of Chattogram.

Under the court's new order, the river boundary must be surveyed and the list of illegal occupiers filed in court within the next two weeks.