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The High Court has ordered the formation of a probe committee to investigate the devastating fire at a building on Dhaka’s Bailey Road that claimed 46 lives.
The bench of Justice Naima Haider and Justice Kazi Zinat Hoque issued the order on Monday after hearing two separate writ petitions, reports bdnews24.com.
The panel will be headed by the home secretary and will include representatives of the police, RAJUK, Fire Service and Civil Defence, and the Dhaka North and South City Corporations, and experts from BUET.
It has been tasked with identifying the reason and the people responsible for the deadly fire at Green Cozy Cottage on Bailey Road and report back within four months.
The court also ordered the panel to submit a report recommending fire safety measures for buildings in Dhaka.
In addition, it issued a rule asking why the lack of fire extinguishing systems in schools, colleges, shopping malls, and other buildings in the capital would not be declared illegal.
Lawyers Md Yunus Ali Akanda and Israt Jahan Shantona filed the petitions in the public interest.
As many as 46 people were killed when a devastating fire ripped through Green Cozy Cottage on Thursday. The injured are undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital and the Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery.
Israt filed a writ petition seeking a judicial probe of the fire incident and directives to identify the real offenders. The petition also requested the government probe committee to submit its report to the court.
Advocate Yunus filed his petition at the High Court seeking a ban on housing restaurants in residential buildings on Bailey Road and other parts of Dhaka. The petition also sought directives leading to the arrest of the culprits in the Bailey Road fire and compensation for the dead and injured in the incident.
The housing and public works secretary, cabinet secretary, home secretary, inspector general of police, RAJUK chairman, and Dhaka North and Dhaka South City Corporation's mayors were named as defendants in the petitions.