The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

In a drive in the city yesterday a mobile court fined five shops Tk 90,000 for selling and displaying the alleged melamine-contaminated eight brands of powder milk.

Meanwhile, the High Court yesterday adjourned till Thursday the hearing on a contempt-of-court petition against top bureaucrats for non-compliance with its orders for stopping the sale of suspected melamine-mixed milk powder.

RAB-1 with the help of BSTI and Dhaka City Corporation conducted the drive at Gulshan, Banani and Mohakhali from 11:00am to 1:45pm following the High Court's order asking the shop owners not to sell or display those items until the test result from FAO's laboratory in Bangkok was received.

The eight brands of powder milk are Chinese Sweetbaby, Yasli-1, Yasli-2, New Zealand's Nido Fortified Instant, Anlin, Australia's Diploma, Red Cow and Dano of Denmark.

The team, led by magistrate Anwar Pasha, fined Abir General Store Tk 35,000, Shuvo General Store Tk 10,000 and Tangail General Store Tk 16,000 located at BCC market in Gulshan-2, Rainbow Store in Banani Tk 7,000 and NP General Store in Mahakhali at 12,000.

However, a trader in the city told the New Nation that they were nor selling or displaying the 8 brands of milk powder but storing those until the test result.

In the meantime, government authorities launched a crackdown on the market with mobile court manned by elite-force RAB and magistrates to remove eight brands of such milk from shops.

A division bench comprising Justice ABM Khairul Haque and Justice M Abdul Hye adjourned the hearing halfway through following the placing of some papers by a deputy attorney general relating to government action to stop the marketing the melamine-mixed milk powder.

On Monday, the contempt petition was filed by Advocate Manzil Murshid on behalf of Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB), a rights watchdog.

On October 23, the High Court, following a Public Interest Litigation writ petition filed by eight HRPB lawyers, directed the government to take immediate steps for embargoing display or sale of such suspected powdered milk of eight foreign brands which have been sent abroad for laboratory test.

The HC directives will be in force until receipt of the laboratory-test reports from abroad. But, despite the court orders, these suspected brands were reportedly being sold on the local market with impunity.

Passing the order, the HC had issued a twin-rule upon the government to explain why its "failure to stop selling melamine-mixed toxic powered milk should not be declared illegal".

The HC also had asked the government to show cause as to why a direction should not be given for taking necessary steps for protecting health security of the citizens.

Saifuzzaman, head of the RAB 1 operation, told this correspondent that the operation will continue until all the banned milk powder stored by the city grocers were seized.