The honorable High Court of Bangladesh ordered to stop illegal brick kilns and wood burning protecting the environment
The High Court has directed the three secretaries of the government to issue instructions to all the Deputy Commissioners within seven days to stop illegal brick kilns and wood burning in brick kilns in the country.
Cabinet Secretary, Public Administration Secretary, and Environment, Forest, and Climate Change Secretary have been asked to implement the directive and submit their progress report within two weeks.
After the preliminary hearing of a writ petition, Justice Md. Ashfakul Islam and Justice Md. Suhrawardy High Court gave this order along with the bench rule.
The rule asked to clarify the reason that why not issue inaction to the defendants stopping illegal brick kilns activities and why not declare the illegal using wood as fuel in various brick kilns, and why not order the defendants to stop illegal making brick, setting up kilns, and using wood as fuel in the kilns.
Twenty-one defendants, including the Cabinet Secretary, Public Administration Secretary and Environment Secretary, Director General, and Director of the Environment Directorate, have been asked to respond to the rule within four weeks.
Lawyer Manzil Morsed appeared in favor of the writ petition in court whether Deputy Attorney General Kazi Mainul Hasan appeared for the state.
Manzil Morsed told reporters after the hearing, ”It is illegal to set up and operate any brick kiln without a license as per the Preparation-of-brick-and-kiln-establishment-(control)-Act-2013. And the use of wood as fuel in brick kilns is wholly prohibited. However, illegal brick kilns have been launched in different country districts because of the winter season. Moreover, wood has use as fuel in all legal and illegal brick kilns. It is causing environmental pollution.
Similarly, due to the profit of the kiln owners, the trees and forests are being destroyed. Even though this is happening under the nose of the administration, no action has been taken by them.
Due to this, the writ petition has been filed to the court. The court passed the interim order along with the rule. The writ application was made last October 13, 2022, by adding the related reports published in various media.
Sarwar Ahad Chowdhury, Ekhlach Uddin Bhuiyan, and Sanjay Mondal, Advocates of the Supreme Court, filed this writ on behalf of the non-governmental organization Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB.
