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The High Court on Sunday rejected the writ petition filed by the detained former prime minister Sheikh Hasina challenging the trial in the barge-mounted power plant graft case after the expiry of the 60-day timeframe for trial.
   The High Court bench of Justice MA Rashid and Justice Ashfaqul Islam also rejected nine other similar writ petitions filed by former deputy minister Ruhul Quddus Talukdar Dulu and former lawmakers Mostafa Kamal alias Lotus Kamal and Mosaddak Ali.
   The verdict cleared the way for trial of Hasina, also the Awami League president, and the three in the cases now pending with special judge’s courts.
   The 60-day timeframe for completing the trial stipulated in the Criminal Law Amendment Act is directory, not mandatory, as the act does not mention any consequence in the case of failure to complete the trial in time, the court said in the verdict.
   The High Court bench of Justice Iman Ali and Justice Emdadul Haque on May 12 issued a rule asking the Anti-Corruption Commission and the special judge’s court 1 to explain the legality of holding the trial in the case against Hasina as the court had failed to complete the trial in 60 days.
   Asked whether appeals would be filed against the High Court verdict, Hasina’s counsel Rafique-ul Huq told reporters he was not certain about any appeals in Hasina’s case.
   He, however, said appeals would be filed against the verdict in the cases of three others.
   Another counsel of Hasina, Fazle Noor Tapos told reporters they would decide on the matter after getting the certified copy of the verdict.
   According to the Criminal Law Amendment Act, the special judge needs to complete the trial in a graft case filed under the Anti-Corruption Commission Act in 45 days from the date of taking cognisance. If the trial is not completed within the timeframe, the judge may take 15 more days to complete it after recording the appropriate reasons for such failure.
   Claiming that the cognisance of the case was taken on January 13, Rafique, during the hearing in the writs, said the stipulated timeframe for the completion of the trial had expired on March 13.
   As the trial has not been completed in by stipulated time, continuation of the trial is now illegal, the counsel had said.
   Opposing the defence petition, Khurshid Alam Khan, a counsel for the commission, argued the special court had framed charges in the case on May 18, observing that the 60-day timeframe for completing the trial should be calculated from the date of the framing of charges.
   As per laws, the special court heard the barge-mounted case only for 10 days, the commission’s counsel argued in the court.

Most of the buildings in the city’s eastern, western and central parts, which were once low-lying areas, are vulnerable to collapse because of potential land subsidence, according to a survey of the Geological Survey of Bangladesh.
   The preliminary survey found that because of presence of too much loose sediment in the land due to land filling in low-lying areas, many parts of the city are susceptible to natural subsidence and especially vulnerable to earthquakes.
   ‘This is an ominous finding as hundreds of buildings in these parts of the city have been constructed without loose sediment being taken into consideration,’ said ATM Asaduzzaman, project director for the Germany-funded survey titled ‘Three-Dimensional Geological Modelling of Dhaka City’.
   He said that after completion of a two-year study, which was a continuation of a preliminary one, they would make public the specific locations which were vulnerable. The GSB is finalising the report of the primary survey.
   Primarily the study found the areas, which were once low-lying — such as the west side of Mohammadpur Shia Masjid, areas near the Buriganga River, Shyamoli and Kalyanpur canals, the north side of Mirpur, areas near the existing Begunbari and Gulshan lake and parts of Badda — were especially vulnerable because of loose sediment in the land.
   ‘Many buildings have been constructed in areas where there were canals. These areas have been filled up indiscriminately but the land has remained loose underneath the buildings’ foundations, posing the threat of subsidence,’ Asaduzzaman told New Age on Thursday.
   He said that if the buildings have been properly designed and engineered, they may remain safe. ‘But most of the buildings, especially the residential ones which have been designed by family members, are vulnerable as the land beneath was not made sufficiently compact,’ he pointed out.
   ‘If there is loose sediment up to 70 feet underground and there is subsidence of as little as two feet, one can easily imagine what will happen in the city,’ he said.
   He said that earthquake damage would be more severe in these parts of the city. ‘These areas are in double jeopardy. Any earthquake in other parts of the city will cause damage because of the tremors.
   But these areas will be doubly affected because of earthquake as well as loose sediment,’ he said.
   Asaduzzaman said that
   they would make safety recommendations to the government after completing the two-year survey.

At least 10 people including a teacher and four students of the Mowlana Bhasani University of Science and Technology were injured when the students clashed with the outsiders at Santosh in Tangail on Sunday.
   According to the witnesses, Azim, an outsider, beat Sirajul Islam, a student of Computer Science and Engineering Department of MBUST Sunday noon.
   Hearing the news some angry students rushed to the main gate of the university to assault Azim who took shelter at a shop in Santosh near the campus. Sensing the impending danger Azim contacted his local friends over mobile phone, which prompted Azim’s friends to rush to the spot. Then ensued the clash between them, local sources said.
   Delwar Hossain, a teacher of Computer Science and Engineering Department of the MBUST, was also injured in the attack when he came to control the students.
   Within a short time, hundreds of students of different departments of the university hastened to the spot with sticks, and chased the outsiders away.
   Later, a police team led by Tangail Sadar police station officer-in-charge Ashraf Hossain came to the spot and brought the situation under control.
   The injured including teacher Delwar Hossain and students Shohel, Asif, Nasim and Mamun were taken to the Tangail General Hospital.
   When contacted, Professor Nurul Islam, registrar of the university, said they would take initiatives to bring about a reconciliation between the two sides.
   Angry students of the university brought out a procession on the campus the same day, protesting at the assault on the students of the university.

The president, Iajuddin Ahmed, and the chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, have greeted their Italian counterparts on the occasion of their national day that falls today.
   In a message to the Italian president, Georgio Nepolitano, Iajuddin said, ‘I take this opportunity to express my firm belief that the existing friendly relations between the two countries will be further developed in the coming years.’
   The chief adviser, in another message to the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, firmly hoped that the existing bonds of friendship between the two countries would further be flourished in the years ahead.
   ‘Bangladesh deeply values its relations with the Republic of Italy and is committed to further strengthen and deepen the close ties existing between the two countries. I’m confident that the friendly relations between Bangladesh and Italy will grow in depth and dimension in the years to come,’ said Fakhruddin.
   The president and the chief adviser also wished for their good health and happiness as well as for continued peace, progress and prosperity of the people of Italy.

Three people died while working in a septic tank of a commercial building at Kulaura upazila in Moulvibazar on Sunday.
   The deceased were caretaker of the building Abdus Shahid, 45, and labourers Md Rolly Miah, 20, and Sumon Miah, 25.
   It was learnt that the caretaker had employed Rolly and Sumon at about 11:00am on Sunday to plaster the walls inside the septic tank.
   Rolly landed into the tank first, but no response was found from him when the other two tried to contact him from above.
   Shahid then entered the tank. After some time he too became non-responsive.
   Observing the situation Sumon went into the tank.
   When local people went
   to see the activities inside the tank and called out to the labourers they did not respond. Alarmed, locals called in the fire brigade.
   The fire brigade personnel rescued the three in unconscious state and sent them to Kulaura upazila health complex where physicians declared them dead, brigade sources said.
   Dr Sayed Enam, physician at the health complex, said they had died after being infected with poisonous gas in the tank.
   Few days ago brickwork of the tank was completed and it was covered by a manhole-cover.

Communist Party of Bangladesh on Sunday vowed to ignore those political parities which would form alliance with war criminals.
   ‘The rule of law cannot be established without the trial of war criminals,’ the CPB president Monzurul Ahsan Khan said at a press briefing. He also urged the people to boycott the war criminals socially.
   The whole nation demanded trial of the war criminals, and his party would always raise voice in this regard, Khan said after exchanging views with leaders of Sector Commanders’ Forum at its Banani office.
   The meeting reached a consensus on continuing the movement for the trial of war criminals, saying that the war criminals must be banned from the politics.
   Sector Commanders’ Forum leaders KM Shafiullah, CR Dutta, Abu Osman Chowdhury, Rafiqul Islam, CPB general
   secretary Mujahidul Islam Selim, presidium members Sahidullah Chowdhury and MM Akash, among others, took part in the view-exchange programme.

Amir Hossain, joint secretary to the Internal Resources Division, has been appointed personal secretary to the president, Iajuddin Ahmed.
   The establishment ministry issued a gazette notification to the effect on Sunday.

MA Azim Khair Manna, a deputy attorney general, resigned from his post Sunday for ‘personal reasons’, an official said.
   Azim Khair submitted his resignation letter to the law ministry, said Abdul Quddus, administrative officer of the Attorney General’s Office. The ministry will forward the letter to the president’s office.
   Azim Khair was appointed as deputy attorney general on October 31, 2001.

A Chittagong court on Sunday framed charges against an assistant commissioner and two constables of the Chittagong Metropolitan Police in a robbery case.
   The metropolitan sessions judge, Bashir Ullah, framed charges against assistant commissioner Abu Saleh Mohammed Mofazzal Hoque and constables Ahsanul Islam and Abdur Rouf in connection with the looting of Tk 4 lakh in cash and gold from the house of a businessman.
   The three policemen allegedly committed the robbery at the house of Haji Faruque Ahmed Chowdhury on February 9, 2008 and the police seized the looted ornaments and the money from the assistant commissioner’s house the next day.
   The investigation officer, Syed Mesbah Uddin, also a CMP assistant commissioner of the Panclaish zone, filed the charge sheet with court on May 13.

Election Commissioner M Sakhawat Hussain, on Sunday, refused to make any comment on whether the recent drive of rounding up more than a hundred leaders and activists of major political parties in different districts was part of an effort to create an environment conducive to the holding of local government elections.
   ‘No comment,’ Sakhawat told reporters when he was asked the above question. The election commissioners had earlier expressed their opinion in favour of launching a drive against illegal firearms and criminals prior to polls.
   The Election Commission is preparing to announce the schedules of polls in some municipalities and four city corporation polls by the second week of this month, and intends to hold the elections in July.
   About Khaleda Zia’s demand for holding national polls by October and the EC’s reported decision of holding upazila polls in October, Sakhawat again said ‘No comment.’
   He said that they would start hearing the objections filed against the proposed delimitation of the electoral constituencies.
   Nearly three thousand objections were lodged against the proposed delimitation till Sunday, the last day of filing such objections.
   The Election Commission observed that seven to eight of the objections would need to be considered important enough for hearing and others did not merit any attention.
   ‘About 2,000 to 3,000 objections have been filed against the delimitation of 51 constituencies. Seven to eight of them are important. We hope to settle the objections after hearing them within the given time,’ he said.
   The Election Commission on April 29 published a gazette notification on the delimitation of 133 out of the 300 constituencies of the country.
   The major political parties, such as Awami League, Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jamaat-e-Islami, have protested against the EC’s steps to delimitate electoral constituencies.

Garments workers demanded special allocation in the fiscal 2008-2009 budget for housing facilities.
   They made the demand at a press conference orgainsed by the Garments Sramik Sangram Parishad at its central office in Dhaka on Sunday.
   Most of the female workers in this industry, where around 22 lakh people are employed, are suffering for want of hygienic habitats, they said, adding many workers face hassles on their way home from workplaces.