The Supreme Court on Monday ordered each of the 154 tannery owners at Hazaribagh to pay the government Tk 10,000 per day as fine for not relocating their factories to the Tannery Estate in Savar within the given time.

A four-member bench of the Appellate Division, led by Chief Justice SK Sinha, passed the order.

The court also ordered the government to donate fifty percent of the fine to National Liver Foundation of Bangladesh, said Supreme Court lawyer Advocate Monzil Morshed, reports UNB.

Earlier on June 28, the Supreme Court stayed till 17 July its earlier order that penalised 154 Hazaribagh-based tanneries for not relocating to the Tannery Estate within the stipulated time after Bangladesh Tanners Association (BTA) filed an appeal with the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the High Court order.

On 16 June, the High Court directed 154 tannery owners at Hazaribagh to pay the fine of Tk 50,000 each per day to the government as the Industries Ministry submitted a report to the HC mentioning that a total of 154 tanneries were yet to be shifted to the designated site in Savar.

Following the report, the HC said each of the 154 tannery owners will have to pay Tk 50,000 as fine every day until the relocation of their factories to Savar.

Earlier on April 1, the government suspended rawhide supply to Hazaribagh tanneries as the tanners had failed to meet the  March 31 deadline, the latest in a line of several such deadlines missed in the past.

The government then again extended the March 31 deadline till  April 10 following a request from the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC), the implementing agency of the tannery estate project.