United Hospital Fire: HC’s compensation verdict stayed
Earlier on 11 January, an HC bench ordered payout of Tk30 lakh compensation within 15 days to four affected families
A chamber bench of Supreme Court Appellate Division Sunday stayed the High Court's order to pay Tk30 lakh compensation to four families affected by a fire incident at the United Hospital in the capital.
Five people were killed in the fire.
Justice Nuruzzaman's chamber court passed the order on Sunday in response to an appeal by United Hospital, said writ petitioner Barrister Niaz Mahmud Mahbub.
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On 11 January, an HC bench comprising of Justices JBM Hasan and Md Khairul Alam ordered the hospital authorities to pay Tk30 lakh compensation within 15 days to four families impacted by the fire that killed five people.
Since one of the five families had already received their compensation payout from the hospital, the HC did not include the name of this family in the compensation list.
The court also issued a rule, inquiring why a compensation of Tk15 crore should not be paid to the four affected families.
On 27 May, 2020, a fire broke out at the isolation unit of the hospital, killing five patients on life support. They are Reazul Alam (45), Khodeja Begum (70), Vernon Anthony Paul (74), Md Monir Hossain (75) and Md Mahabub (50).
Three days after the fire, on May 30, Supreme Court lawyer Niaz Mahmud Mahbub and four affected families filed four separate public interest litigation (PIL) petitions, seeking court directions over adequate compensation payout for the affected families.
On 15 July, a virtual HC bench of Justice Enayetur Rahim directed the United Hospital authorities to pay Tk30 lakh as compensation to each the affected families within 15 days.
However, on 21 July, the Appellate Division Chamber Judge stayed the High Court's order and sent the matter to the regular bench of the Appellate Division for hearing.
On 20 August, a six-member appellate bench headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain disposed of United Hospital's application, upholding the stay order. At the same time, the appellate bench also ordered that the writ petitioners could present their petitions at any regular writ bench of the High Court.
The petitioners subsequently presented their petitions at the HC bench of Justices JBM Hasan and Khairul Alam. On January 11, the court, after hearing both parties, ordered compensation along with the rules.
