The High Court has ordered a halt to the construction of a police station building at the site of Chowdhurypara Lake in Dhaka's Malibagh.

The order was issued by a bench of Justice Qazi Zeenat Haque and Justice Ainun Nahar Siddiqui on Sunday after hearing a writ petition in this regard.

Senior lawyer Manzil Merced argued the case on behalf of the petitioner.

He said that the Public Works Ministry allocated 50 percent of the land of a reservoir (Chowdhuripara Jheel) in Malibagh for the construction of a permanent building for Rampura Police Station. News about this was published in the newspaper on October 21, and then on October 30, Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB) filed a writ case in public interest.

"The state's DAG Nur Mohammad Azami gave verbal instructions to stop the construction work until November 5 if it applies for time and asked the DAG to confirm it. The DAG told the court that measures will be taken to stop the construction work until November 5."

During the hearing, Manzil Morshed said that although filling of reservoirs is prohibited under the provisions of the 1995 Environment Act, the 2000 Reservoir Conservation Act, the 2013 Water Act, and Article 18(A) of the Constitution, the Ministry of Public Works has illegally allocated allocation for the construction of a police station building on a part of the Malibagh Chowdhurypara Lake, ignoring these provisions.

"Despite instructions from the highest levels of the government to preserve the reservoir to protect the environment at various times, the ministry has granted leases for filling the reservoir. The officials who granted such leases have not only acted against the law but have also committed a peaceable offense under the provisions of the Government Services Act, 2018."

The writ petition was filed by lawyers Charwar Ahad Chowdhury, Ekhlas Uddin Bhuiyan and Sanjay Mondal on behalf of Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HAPB).

There are a total of 9 defendants, including the Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, the Secretary of the Ministry of Public Works, and the Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs.