The High Court on Sunday issued a rule asking why authorities’ failure to stop river pollution by SR Chemical Industries and Majumdar Products Ltd in Sherpur upazila of Bogura should not be declared illegal.
The bench of Justice Bhishmadev Chakraborty and Justice Abdur Rahman passed the order after a hearing of a public interest writ petition (No. 4538/2026) filed by the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA).
The court asked why directives should not be given under Section 4A of the Environment Conservation Act, 1995 to prevent the factories’ hazardous activities and protect the Fuljor, Karatoa and Bangali rivers from further pollution.
The rule was issued alongside two pending writ petitions filed earlier by SR Chemical Industries and Majumdar Products Ltd, which the court kept for hearing together.
BELA lawyers Minhazul Haque Chowdhury and S Hasanul Banna, assisted by Rumana Sharmin, represented the petitioners.
According to case documents, untreated waste from the factories has severely polluted the rivers, killing fish and aquatic species, changing water colour and making it foul‑smelling and unusable in parts of Sirajganj and Bogura.
The Department of Environment fined the factories several times, while a technical committee recommended 11 mandatory measures to SR Chemical Industries, which were not implemented.
Respondents include the secretaries of the water resources and environment ministries, the chairman of the National River Protection Commission, the director general of the Department of Environment, deputy commissioners and police superintendents of Bogura and Sirajganj, and the managing directors of the two factories.
