A High Court vacation bench comprising Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Mohamed Jahangir Hossain passed the order after holding hearing on a petition filed by Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA).
Syeda Rizwana Hasan, chief executive of BELA, and Sayeed Ahmed Kabir took part in the hearing for the plea, while Kamrul Islam Siddiqui stood for the ship owner.
“We had submitted a report of Department of Environment, which stated that they have found presence of radioactive gamma ray inside the pipe of this ship. After hearing our plea, the court banned breaking the ship till October 5,” lawyer Kabir said.
Janata Shipyard imported the scrap ship for breaking.
The court also sought for the assessment report on whether there is radiation in the ship from an expert committee formed by the government following a prayer from Janata Steel Mill, which purchased the ship for scrapping.
The government has been asked to submit the assessment report to the HC by October 5.
The court also issued a rule asking the authorities concerned to explain why giving a clearance certificate in favour of MT Producer should not be declared illegal.
BELA recently submitted the petition as supplementary to a pending writ petition, saying that the representatives of the Department of Environment (DoE), Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC), Bangladesh Atomic Energy Regulatory Authority (BAERA), and the Marine Port Initiative of Bangladesh Customs (MPIBC) visited 11 points of the MT Producer and prepared a report based on their findings.
In the report, Gamma Radiation Dose Rate at one of the 11 points was found to be much higher than Background Radiation Level,
which is harmful for public health, BELA said in the supplementary petition, adding that accidents might take place if the toxic ship is scrapped.
Following the writ petition filed by BELA, the HC on June 8 had asked for the assessment reports from the four agencies on the presence of naturally occurring radioactive material in MT Producer.