Appeal filed seeking suspension of HC injunction on water price hike by Wasa

The state appealed today to the Appellate Division Chamber Court seeking suspension of the injunction imposed by the High Court on the water price hike by Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) till August 10.

Chamber Justice Md Nuruzzaman fixed June 30 for the next hearing after ending of the partial hearing on that application.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam appeared for WASA at court. Barrister Anik R Haque and Advocate Tanvir Ahmed were in favour of the writ petition.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told The Business Standard that WASA increased the price of water by increasing the quality of service continuously. The High Court has unreasonably imposed an injunction in collecting that extra bill. So an application was filed seeking suspension of it.

Earlier on Monday (June 22) the High Court imposed the injunction on the water price hike by Wasa till August 10. 

The High Court bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim passed the order after holding a virtual hearing on a writ petition filed as public interest litigation challenging Dhaka Wasa's decision to increase water prices by 25 percent without improving the quality of water.

On June 14, Supreme Court Lawyer Tanvir Ahmed filed the petition.

The local government secretary, law secretary, Dhaka Wasa and some others were made respondents in the writ petition. 

Dhaka Wasa increased the price of water for residential customers by 25 percent and for commercial customers by about 8 percent.

An order was issued by the local government department on February 26 to increase the water tariff, which has been effective since April 1. At the new rate, the price of water per thousand litres has been fixed at Tk14.46 while it was Tk11.57 earlier.

In the commercial sector, the price has been increased from Tk37.4 per thousand litres to Tk40.

The water tariff was increased by five percent on September 1 last year and then on April 1 this year, which is illegal, according to the petition.

As per the law, the price of water could be increased at the rate of not more than five percent once a year, the petitioner said in the petition. 

The decision of increasing the price of water has to be disclosed to the public 30 days before its implementation. But the notice of increasing the price of water was published on Dhaka Wasa's own website and no date was mentioned there.