A writ petition has been filed with the High Court Division seeking an injunction against the water tariff hike by Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (DWASA).
Supreme Court lawyer Advocate Tanvir Ahmed filed the writ for the public interest with the virtual bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim on Monday.
The writ also sought a rule from the bench that the government be asked why the Section 22(3) of the Wasa Act 1996 should not be declared illegal.
According to the section, the state agency can increase water tariff by 5% every year. But any rise over that will have to be cleared by the ministry or department concerned.
In February, the authorities increased the water tariff again for household and commercial consumers in the capital, making it effective from April.
Earlier, the tariff was raised in September 2019.
Under the new tariff ceiling, residential consumers will pay Tk14.46 for each unit (1,000 litres) of water — a Tk2.89 or 24.97% hike from the existing Tk11.57.
On the other hand, the commercial rate has jumped by 8%, or Tk2.96, to Tk40 from Tk37.04 per unit.
According to a circular, Wasa decided to raise the water prices following government instruction in order to adjust the production cost in view of the recent hike in gas and electricity prices, and to balance out sales with production and distribution costs.