Chamber court for halting sand extraction from Meghna shoals

The Appellate Division's chamber court on Monday stayed a High Court order that allowed union parishad chairman Md Selim Khan to extract sand from the shoals of the Meghna River in Chandpur Sadar and Haimchar areas. 

Chamber Judge of the Supreme Court, Justice M Enayetur Rahim, gave the order following a state's leave to appeal seeking a stay of the High Court order. The appeal was also forwarded for a hearing before a full bench led by the chief justice on 25 April. 

Following the new order, Selim Khan, chairman of Lakshmipur Union Parishad under Chandpur Sadar upazila, can no longer extract sand from the shoals, according to lawyers. 

State prosecutors, Attorney General AM Amin Uddin and Deputy Attorney General Kazi Maynul Hassan, and Selim Khan's lawyers MK Rahman and Momtaz Uddin Fakir, were present during the Chamber Court hearing.  

In 2015, Selim Khan filed a writ with the High Court seeking directives to conduct a hydrographic survey of the Meghna River in the public interest at his own cost, for which extracting sand was necessary. 

In the verdict given in early 2018, the court directed the Chandpur district administration and other authorities concerned to allow Selim Khan to do so. Later, the state filed for leave to appeal against the HC order on 15 March this year. 

The name of UP Chairman Selim Khan also came to light for his alleged involvement in improprieties in land acquisition for the under-construction science and technology university in Chandpur. He allegedly bagged more than Tk100 crore by artificially raising land prices prior to the acquisition.