The High Court yesterday ruled that the 18-storey building of Concord Group built on the land of Sir Salimullah Muslim orphanage in the capital’s Azimpur had been built illegally, and also ordered its handover to the orphanage authorities.
In the verdict of a writ petition filed by four students of the orphanage, the court directed Concord Group to arrange the property’s handover to the orphanage authorities within 30 days.
The government, otherwise, will take over the multi-storey building on behalf of the orphanage to protect and develop it for facilitating accommodation of orphans, according to the verdict.
The High Court bench of Justice Mirza Hussain Haider and Justice AKM Zahirul Hoque handed down the verdict.
Nawab Sir Salimullah set up the orphanage back in 1909 and its authorities later leased more land from the government for expansion.
But in 2003, President of the orphanage Shamsunnar and Secretary Khan Ahsanullah handed over two bighas of land to Concord.
After that, Human Rights and Peace, a rights organisation, filed the writ petition on behalf of the four students of the orphanage.
The court also invalidated two documents concerning the handover of the orphanage’s land to Concord Group - the July 2013 deed and the April 2014 power of attorney.