BELA’s petition challenges LGED’s forest road initiative, citing missing ministry approval, tree and hill cutting, and legal duties to conserve Maheshkhali’s biodiversity.
The High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh on Thursday imposed a two-month injunction on all activities related to the construction of a 4.880 km.
The order concerns a road being built by the Local Government Engineering Department under the South Chattogram Regional Development Project known as SCRDP. The proposed road, 3.70 kilometres pass through the reserved forest in Maheshkhali Pahar mouza, which covers 18,286.40 acres.
The bench of Justice Fahmida Quader and Justice Md Asif Hasan issued the injunction and a rule after a preliminary hearing on a public interest litigation filed by the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association.
In the rule, the court asked why the initiative to build the road through the reserved forest without approval from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and the failure and inaction of other respondents to prevent it, should not be declared illegal without lawful authority and against public interest for being contrary to the constitution and the laws and policies of Bangladesh.
The court also asked why directions should not be issued to cancel the initiative to construct the proposed 3.70-kilometre road through the reserved forest, remove the paved portion of the road already built inside the forest and take other necessary protective and conservation measures to protect and conserve the 18,286.40 acres of reserved forest in Maheshkhali Pahar mouza and its biodiversity.
18,286.40 acres of land in Pahar mouza No. 12 under Maheshkhali upazila of Cox’s Bazar district were handed over to the Forest Department for 100 years in 1954 through Gazette Notification No. 2529 of the then Directorate of Agriculture and Relief.
The land was later declared reserved forest in 1957, prohibiting all activities there without approval from the Forest Department.
 The Forest and Tree Conservation Act, 2026 and the Wildlife (Conservation and Security) Act prohibit the use of natural forests in ways that are contrary to forest protection and wildlife conservation. It also said the state has a constitutional commitment to protect forests under Article 18A.
The reserved forest is recorded in the name of the Forest Department under RS and BS records adding that the natural forest is rich in biodiversity.
BELA said the Local Government Engineering Department had taken the initiative to build the 4.880-kilometre connecting road under SCRDP in violation of legal provisions enacted to protect forests and contrary to the state’s constitutional commitment.
Although approval from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change is mandatory for constructing the road, the Local Government Engineering Department continued the work without obtaining it, according to the press release.
BELA filed the case in the public interest after the construction work continued by cutting numerous trees and hills in the reserved forest, despite a prohibition from the environment ministry and objections from the Forest Department, the release said.
The respondents in the case are the secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change; the secretary of the Local Government Division under the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives; the secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs; the secretary of the Ministry of Land; the director general of the Department of Environment; the chief conservator of forests; the conservator of forests of the Wildlife Management and Nature Conservation Circle; the divisional forest officer of the Chattogram Coastal Forest Division; the executive engineer of the Local Government Engineering Department in Cox’s Bazar district; and the range officer of the Maheshkhali Range under the Chattogram Coastal Forest Division.
