The High Court on Thursday dismissed the rule issued on a petition challenging the legality of the Chittagong Port Authority’s (CPA) ongoing process of signing an agreement with a foreign company to operate the New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT) at Chittagong Port.
The bench of Justice Zafar Ahmed delivered the order after hearing arguments from lawyers on the matter.
As a result, there remains no legal bar to the CPA proceeding with the agreement to hand over the operation of the New Mooring Container Terminal to a foreign operator.
Additional Attorney General Anik R. Haque said the writ petitioners applied to the court of the Chamber Judge seeking a stay of the High Court verdict.
The Chamber Judge issued a ‘no order’ in response to their application, thereby upholding the High Court’s verdict.
Barrister Zamir Uddin Sircar, Advocate Ahsanul Karim and Barrister Mahbub Uddin Khokon represented the petitioners in the court.
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Earlier, on December 4, the High Court delivered a dissenting verdict on a rule concerning the legality of the Chattogram Port Authority’s ongoing process to sign an agreement with a foreign company to operate the New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT).
A bench, led by Senior Justice Fatema Najib, declared the ongoing process of the Chattogram Port Authority to sign the contract with the foreign company for operating the NCT as ultra vires, citing violations of the 2015 Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Act and the 2017 guidelines of the Governance and Transparency Committee (GTC).
However, Justice Fatema Anwar disagreed and discharged the rule, rejecting the writ petition.
As per procedure, the dissenting verdict was sent to the then Chief Justice for final disposal.
The Chief Justice then referred the matter to a single bench led by Justice Zafar Ahmed, who conducted hearings and delivered the verdict on Thursday.
On February 17, 2019, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the Chattogram Port Authority and DP World under the PPP framework for the operation of the New Mooring Container Terminal.
The writ petition, filed by Mirza Walid Hossain, president of Bangladesh Jubo Arthanitibid Forum, sought a directive for a fair and competitive bidding process, citing reports in national media questioning why the terminal, which already had all infrastructures in place, was being handed over to a foreign company.
The petition also raised concerns about the legality of the ongoing process of signing the agreement with the UAE-based company.
The High Court initially issued a rule on July 30 last year, seeking clarification on why the ongoing process of signing the contract with the foreign company should not be declared ultra vires under the PPP Act and related guidelines.
The court also asked why a fair and competitive public tender should not be ensured before appointing any operator to manage the NCT. Following hearings on the rule, the High Court issued a dissenting verdict on December 4.
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The New Mooring Container Terminal, one of the largest at Chittagong Port, was constructed in 2007.
The port authority invested a total of Tk 2,712 crore in phases for the construction and equipment of the terminal.
The terminal handles the majority of import and export containers passing through the Chattogram Port.