SC seeks undertaking from BGMEA on office relocation

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has asked the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) to give an undertaking saying that it will not file any more time petition over relocating its office from the capital’s Hatirjheel area.

The SC will pass order on the time-petition filed by BGMEA after the authorities give the undertaking.

A four-member SC bench, led by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, passed the order on Tuesday.

Earlier on Thursday BGMEA filed a petition with the SC seeking time for one more year for relocation of its multistoried building, illegally constructed in the capital’s Hatirjheel Lake and Begunbari Canal.

In 2011, the High Court ordered demolition of the 16-storey building as it was constructed in defiance of relevant laws, calling it a ‘cancer’ in the lake.

The BGMEA later filed a leave-to-appeal petition with the Appellate Division against the High Court judgment, but the apex court on June 2, 2016, dismissed the plea as well as asked the RMG producers to demolish its headquarters at once and at its own cost.