The High court on Thursday directed the district administration of Chattogram not to allocate any forest land for constructing any shipbreaking yard in Salimpur area of Sitakunda upazila.
It also ordered preservation of all the forest land as per the Forest Act. The court revoked the decision of the district administration allocating 7.10 acres of land to BBC Steel Company for establishing a shipbreaking yard after clearing coastal forests in the Salimpur area.
The bench of Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Khandaker Diliruzzaman passed the order after the final hearing of a writ petition filed by Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (Bela).
Syeda Rizwana Hasan, Minhajul Haque Chowdhury and Sayeed Ahmed Kabir stood for the writ petitioner while Advocate Mehedi Hasan Chowdhury represented BBC Steel Company.
The district administration allotted the land on December 26, 2018 while Bela sent legal notice to them against the allotment on March 25.
The writ petition was filed with the High Court on April 28, 2018 as the administration did not take any step to this end.
On May 13 last year, the HC issued a rule and an injunction on the construction of the shipbreaking yard.