The High Court today stayed a lease agreement for allocating 8001 acres of forest land and 2,712 acres of ecologically critical area (ECA) at Sonadia island in Cox's Bazar.

The agreement was signed on May 27, 2017 between Cox's Bazar district administration and Bangladesh Economic Zone Authority (BEZA) for allegedly setting up an Eco Tourism Park in the island.

In response to a writ petition, the HC today ordered the government authorities to take effective steps to protect the forest land and ECA in the Island.

The deputy commissioner of Cox's Bazar was asked to immediately take steps to stop cutting trees and establishing shrimp farms at the ecologically critical area.

The HC also ordered the government to assess the loss of 4,916 hectares of the ECA and a total of 8001.70 acres of notified forest land of Sonadia Island and to make plan to recover them and to submit a report in six months.

Secretary at the ministry of environment, forest and climate change, chief conservator of forest and director general of department of environment have been asked to comply with this directive.

At the same time, HC issued a rule asking the respondents to explain why the lease agreement should not be declared illegal and unconstitutional.

The court in the rule asked them to explain why they should not be directed to hand over the forest land and ECA to the forest department in order to ensure their proper protection, recovery and management, to take appropriate legal action against the offenders involved in their damages to collect compensation after assessing the loss of ecological system and diversity of the forest and ECA.

Secretaries at the ministries of environment, forest and climate change, and land; chairman of BEZA; chief conservator of forest; director general of department of environment (DoE); deputy commissioner and superintendent of police of Cox's Bazar; divisional forest officer of Chattogram coastal forest department; director of Cox's Bazar's DoE; upazila nirbahi officer (UNO), assistant commissioner (land) and officer in-charge of the police station in Maheshkhali have been made respondents to the rule.

The HC bench of Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice Debasish Roy Chowdhury issued the order and rule following a writ petition filed by Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) seeking necessary directives to protect the forest and ECA at Sonadia island.