A Supreme Court lawyer on Thursday filed a writ petition with the High Court, seeking directives for the government authorities to halt the operation of unauthorised sleeper buses, mostly imported from Indian companies, to ensure road safety.
Lawyer Muhammad Huzzatul Islam Khan submitted the public interest litigation to the High Court bench of Justice Fatema Najib and Justice Sikder Mahmudur Razi, highlighting concerns over the legality and safety standards of these buses.
The lawyer said that the hearing on the writ petition was likely to take place next week.
The petition included newspaper reports published under headlines such as 鈥楽leeper buses are running without permission; number plates are managed before selling chassis鈥�, 鈥楽leeper-double-decker buses on roads with registration: BRTA says illegal鈥�, and 鈥楳ore than 300 sleeper buses are running without approval鈥�.
In his petition, he argued that these sleeper buses were operating without approval from the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, posing serious risks of accidents.
He pointed out that the engines for these buses were imported from Ashok Leyland, an Indian company, for constructing single-decker buses. However, bus owners allegedly modified those into double-decker sleeper buses illegally, he said.
Huzzatul requested the High Court to issue a rule asking why the inaction of the authorities, particularly the BRTA, to suspend the operation of these unauthorised sleeper buses should not be declared illegal.
He also sought an explanation from the government as to why these unregulated buses, operated under the Bangladesh Sleeper AC Bus Owners Association, continue to ply the roads.
Huzzatul also sought clarification from the BRTA regarding whether these sleeper buses had been granted permission for operation.
鈥楾he BRTA has informed me that they did not authorise sleeper buses built on imported chassis from India to operate in the country,鈥� he told 抖阴精品.
