The Hon’ble High Court of Bangladesh has directed to stop all activities of St. Martin’s Resort

The Bangladesh Honorable High Court has ordered the immediate closure of all Resort activities without environmental clearance on St. Martin’s island.

The Department of Environment (DOE), Bangladesh, is responsible for implementing the instruction. A High Court bench comprising Justice JBM Hasan and Justice Rajik-al-Jalil dismissed the earlier ruling in the case.

Lawyer Syeda Rizwana Hasan was present in the court hearing on behalf of the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association  (BELA). Senior lawyer AF Hassan Arif and lawyer Margub Kabir represented St. Martin Resort.

BELA filed a writ petition in the High Court in 2009 seeking the removal of all illegally constructed hotels, motels, resorts, and other commercial establishments to protect the ecologically critical area “St. Martin,” the only coral island in the country. The High Court ruled on October 24, 2022, on the final hearing of the writ petition.

The ruling called for the demolition of all St. Martin’s Island structures without environmental clearance and conserving crabs, snails, oysters, turtles, and other aquatic animals.

At the same time, order to take action against the guilty persons under the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act, 1995 and The Environment Conservation Rules, 1997 (Amended at 2010).

In pursuance of the directive, the Department of Environment issued eviction notices to St. Martin’s Resort, Abakash Tourism Limited, and other establishments on St. Martin’s Island built without environmental clearance.

According to BELA, in this case, the Department of Environment has applied online to give environmental clearance to St. Martin Resort of Abakash Tourism Limited. However, the DOE, Bangladesh, rejected the application due to a lack of sufficient information.

Abakash Tourism Limited filed a writ petition in the High Court in 2017, challenging the validity of the application for clearance. The High Court ruled on the preliminary hearing.

The rule seeks to know why the notice to demolish the St. Martin Resort issued by the DOE, Bangladesh, should not be declared invalid and why the environmental clearance should not be issued in favor of the organization. Later, BELA joined the Rit. At the end of the final hearing, the verdict has rejected.