The High Court on Tuesday directed the cabinet secretary to form a high-power committee to investigate irregularities, if any, regarding plot allotments in the Hatirjheel-Begunbari and Tejgaon industrial areas. An HC bench, comprising justice AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury and justice Jahangir Hossain, passed the order during a rule hearing that was issued earlier. It asked the government to explain why the allotment process in the Hatirjheel-Begunbari area, in the name of allotting industrial plots, should not be cancelled.
Members of the committee would be Abu Alam, secretary in the local government and public works ministry, Asis Ranjan Das, law secretary, Nazim Uddin Chowdhury, joint secretary in the home ministry, and Iqbal Mahmud from the external resources department.
The committee has been asked to submit a report before it by July 15, after investigating whether the deeds of these plots were drawn up in keeping with the due process of law, the process followed in providing plots and whether any corruption had occurred and whether the environment ministry’s permission had been taken during plot allotment.
The HC also asked the secretary in the public works and housing ministry to submit a list before it, stating the number of allotted plots. It also asked the director general of the Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) to initiate a probe to find out whether there was any corruption in the allotment of plots in the Hatirjheel area.
The court also asked the Bangladesh high commissioner in London to submit a report before it, regarding the allocation of money collected through the Radio Spectrum programme for the flood-affected people. Shafiq Rehman, former editor of the Bengali daily, Jaijaidin, is one of the owners of the radio.
The HC also asked the high commissioner to inform the court about the status of another investigation conducted by the Scotland Yard into the issue. The HC bench came up with the directives in the presence of Shafiq Rehman and two former state ministers, Ziaul Haq Zia and Maj. (retd) Kamrul Islam.
Rehman and the two former state ministers had to stand before the court for more than two hours. Advocate TH Khan, counsel for Kamrul Islam, alleged that after summoning his client, the HC showed disrespect to the citizens by keeping them standing before the court. It also followed a “pick and choose” method in delivering  the order after interfering in the issue, though it is beyond the court’s jurisdiction, he added.
The HC also asked Rehman and the former state ministers to submit the statement of their properties in Dhaka city through affidavits.
Earlier, in a suo motu move, the HC bench summoned them before the court, in connection with a newspaper report. The report had mentioned that the BNP-led four-party alliance government allocated the land to state ministers in 2006. A 10-katha plot was given to Nazma, director of Famous Fashions Limited, while two plots were given to another person named Joy at low cost.