The High Court yesterday directed the authorities concerned to relocate the generator and boiler of a garments factory at Baniarchala in Gazipur within three months to save lives of people and environment.
In response to a writ petition, the court also directed the director general of the Department of Environment not to issue environmental clearance certificate to the garments factory --AMC Knit Composite --until further order.
An HC bench also issued a rule upon the authorities concerned of the government and the garments factory to explain within four weeks why they should not be directed to shut operations of the garments factory without having the environmental clearance certificate.
The bench of Justice AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik and Justice Gobinda Chandra Tagore passed the order and issued the rule following the writ petition filed by Bangladesh National Woman Lawyers Association (BNWLA).
BNWLA recently filed the petition as public interest litigation saying that the generator and boiler of AMC Knit Composite are polluting sounds and air at Baniarchala, where a shelter home for the people with disabilities, is situated.
The challenged people are suffering from the pollution cared by the generator and boiler of the factory, it said.
Advocate Iqbal Kabir Lytton appeared for the petitioner, while Deputy Attorney General ABM Altaf Hossain represented the government.