NN Online:
Yesterday, the High Court issued a rule directing the respondents to explain why they should not be ordered to pay Tk 1.5 crore in compensation to each of the families of six individuals who died in a road accident at Dhaleshwari toll plaza on December 27 last year.
Additionally, the court questioned why each of the five injured victims in the same incident should not receive Tk 50 lakh in compensation.
The respondents named in the rule include secretaries from the roads and highways department, and the home and law ministries; the chairman of the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA); the executive director of the Bangladesh Bridge Authority; the country manager of Korean Expressway Corporation; the Dhaka deputy commissioner; Dhaka superintendent of police; the upazila nirbahi officer of Dakkhin Keranianj; the owner of Bepari Paribahan; the chairman of BRTA’s trustee board; and officers-in-charge of Sirajdikhan (Hashara Highway) and Dakshin Keraniganj police stations.
This rule was issued by a bench of Justice Kazi Zinat Hoque and Justice Aynun Nahar Siddiqua, in response to a writ petition filed by two injured victims, Md Nur Alam and Suman Miah, seeking directions for appropriate compensation.
The court also instructed the respondents to explain why they should not be ordered to take necessary steps to amend three sections of the Road Transport Act, 2018, which currently prescribe inadequate punishments for the offenses listed in those sections.
