PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION (PIL)

1. Bangladesh Legal Aid & Services Trust (BLAST)

2. Sultana F. Nahar

3. Shammya Bratee represnted by his father Mr. Md. Ruhul Qudus Babu

1. Bangladesh, represented by the secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forest

2.Secretary, Ministry of Health an dFamily Welfare

3. Secretary, Mnistry of Communication

4. Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs

5. Secretary, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources

6. Director General, Dept of Environment

7. Bangladesh Auto Rickshaw Workers Union

8. Dhaka Metropolitan Auto Rickshaw Business Owners Association

9.Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation

10. Bangladesh Road Transport Authority

11 Police Commissioner

12. City Corporation

BLAST, on behalf of two minor petitioners, filed a writ petition challenging the plying of three wheelers operating with two-stroke engines in Dhaka, as contributing to environmental hazards in Dhaka and affecting the health of children and elderly people in particular by emission of a high level of pollutants. They relied on an agreement signed in 1997 by the Dhaka City Auto Rickshaw Business Owners Association, the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority and the Ministry of Communications to the effect that three wheelers older than nine years would not operate within Dhaka and would not be sold in other Metropolitan areas, and alleged that there had been no effective implementation of this Agreement.

The High Court gave a judgment and passed an order directing the Government to phase out all three wheelers with two-stroke engines from Dhaka within 2002 and to replace them with clean transport alternatives. The Government’s petition for leave to appeal against the said order was rejected by the Appellate Division on 27.03.2002 in Civil Petition for Leave to Appeal No. 749 of 2002.

Mr. Justice M.M. Ruhul Amin 

Mr. Justice Khademul Islam Chowdhury