Shawdesh Desk:

The Chamber Judge of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the High Court order seeking a report on how much money Dhaka WASA managing director Taqsem A Khan received as salary, bonus and other facilities in the past 13 years.

Chamber Judge Borhan Uddin passed the order after hearing two separate pleas filed by WASA Board and WASA MD seeking a stay order on the HC order.

The court also upheld the three-month prohibition order on giving incentives as ‘performance bonus’ to officials and employees of Dhaka WASA.

Lawyer AM Masum appeared for WASA MD in the court while Jotirmoy Barua appeared for the Consumers Association of Bangladesh.

On August 17, the HC ordered the WASA Board to submit a report within 60 days, informing how much money the MD took as salary, bonus and other facilities in the last 13 years.

HC also issued a rule questioning why the inaction of the authorities concerned to remove Wasa MD Taqsem from his post should not be declared illegal.

On July 31, architect Mobasher Hossain filed the writ petition on behalf of CAB challenging the inaction of the WASA Board of Directors to remove Taqsem from the post of MD.

According to the writ petition, Taqsem A Khan was appointed as WASA MD on a three-year contract in 2009. His contract was extended three times even after his ‘poor performance’.

The writ also mentioned that WASA MD was drawing extra salary and allowances going beyond the rules.

According to the latest board decision, the monthly salary of Wasa MD is Tk 6.25 lakh.