The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court (SC) on Monday upheld the High Court order that ordered demolition of the Gulshan Shopping Centre in Dhaka's Gulshan-1 within 30 days.
A five-member bench of the Appellate Division, led by Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan, passed the order following a petition filed by the owners challenging the HC order.
In July 2023, two companies namely Bani Chitra and Films filed a writ seeking the HC directive to demolish Gulshan Shopping Centre citing safety concerns.
Following the writ, on Dec 13, the HC bench of Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam and Justice Md Ataullah ordered the demolition of the centre within a month.
Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC), Rajuk and others were asked to implement this directive.
On July 13, 2023, Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) in a mobile court drive sealed off the shopping centre as it was found risky.
Regional Executive Officer and Executive Magistrate Zulkar Nayan and Executive Magistrate Md Mahbub Hasan conducted the mobile court.
In 2021, the Department of Fire Service and Civil Defence declared the market risky and abandoned due to the dilapidated building and lack of fire fighting system and sent a letter to the DNCC to take legal action regarding the issue on an urgent basis.
Zulkar Nayan, regional executive officer and executive magistrate of Zone-3, said, "The shop owners were instructed repeatedly to vacate the building to prevent any kind of humanitarian disaster as the Gulshan-1 shopping centre is risky, but they did not vacate it."
