The Appellate Division has upheld the High Court’s verdict declaring the ongoing process of signing a contract with a foreign company to operate the New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT) at Chattogram Port as lawful. As a result, there is now no legal barrier to the port authority entering into the agreement with the foreign operator.
On Thursday (March 12), the Appellate Division led by the Chief Justice dismissed the leave to appeal filed against the High Court verdict.
Earlier, on January 29, the High Court rejected the rule that had questioned the legality of the Chattogram Port Authority’s ongoing process to sign a contract with a foreign company for operating the New Mooring Container Terminal.
Prior to that, on December 4 last year, a divided verdict was delivered by the High Court on the matter. The senior judge of the bench, Justice Fatema Najib, declared the contract process illegal, while the junior judge, Justice Fatema Anwar, dismissed the writ petition and declared the process legal.
Following the split decision, the case was referred to a single bench of Chief Justice Md. Zafar Ahmed for final disposal.
