The High Court has ordered Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited to initially pay Tk5 lakh compensation to each victim of the Narayanganj mosque fire incident.
According to the order, within seven days, the gas company will pay the compensation to Narayanganj Deputy Commissioner (DC) who will later distribute it among the victims.
The High Court bench of Justice JBM Hassan and Justice Khairul Alam passed the order on Wednesday after hearing a writ on this regard.
Advocate Taimur Alam Khandaker accompanied by the petitioner lawyer Advocate Mar-e-um Khondaker stood for the writ.
The High Court also said that all the parties – Titas Gas, Dhaka Power Distribution Company (DPDC), Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) and Baitus Salah Jame Mosque committee – are responsible for the incident which took place on Friday.
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The court will give its decision after the investigation reports of the incident are published but for now it passed the initial compensation order.
However, the state lawyer, Deputy Attorney General Nur-Us Sadik, strongly opposed the order of initial compensation.
He said if the incident happened in any other country, the responsible party would have to pay the full compensation and necessary action would also be taken against them.
However, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is looking after this matter and she already mentioned the incident in her parliamentary speech, he added.
Later on Wednesday evening, Additional Attorney General Murad Reza told Dhaka Tribune that Titas would appeal against the High Court order.
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On Friday, an explosion at Baitus Salah Jame Mosque in Narayanganj’s Fatullah area left 28 people dead and at least nine others injured – who are currently being treated at Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery in Dhaka.
On Saturday, police filed a case of "murder by negligence" over the incident, suspected to be caused by a gas leakage in pipelines.
Supreme Court lawyers Advocate Taimur Alam Khandaker and Advocate Mar-e-um Khondaker filed a writ seeking a suo moto order with the High Court bench of Justice JBM Hassan and Justice Khairul Alam on Sunday.
On Monday, the court fixed Tuesday for hearing the writ with government representation, which was later deferred to Wednesday.
The petition also requested the court to direct the government to take appropriate legal action against those responsible for the tragic incident and order concerned utility service providers to ensure routine examination and maintenance efforts.
