Authorities of the fully government owned five-star hotel started construction of the hotel's extension project, including a multi-storied car park, convention hall, tower block, boundary and retaining walls, and peripheral road network to the southeast of its main building, without land use clearance and approval of construction plan.

Civil Aviation and Tourism Ministry Secretary intervened asking Rajuk not to proceed further in taking steps against violation of building construction act and rules, said a Rajuk source.

The secretary Shahid Alam, an ex-officio chairman of the Hotels International Limited (Hil), held a meeting with the Rajuk chairman KAM Harun on August 30 at Sonargaon Hotel in this regard and directed the chairman not to go ahead with action against hotel authorities, the source said.

When asked about his intervention, Alam said: "I just asked Rajuk authorities not to hold up the work. I did not bar them from slapping a penalty or taking legal action."

"They were not aware of the construction law and rules," said the secretary when asked why the hotel authorities had not obtained land use clearance and approval of construction plan as per the rules, "They prepared the design in a wrong manner without filling up Rajuk's prescribed forms and without paying the fees."

To the question whether it is acceptable that authorities of an establishment of international stature were unaware of basic building construction rules, he said: "Many of us do not do many things."

The problem was the hotel did not follow the lawful procedure in initiating the work, he said, they would now submit the design of the work plan in a proper manner.

When asked whether Sonargaon authorities will pay penalty for violating law, Shahid Alam said that they would pay if Rajuk slaps it for aberrations.

"The hotel authorities will have to pay the fine for having violated building construction law and rules," said a highly placed Rajuk source. "But the Building Construction committee has yet to decide whether they have to pay approval fees at penalty rate," he said.

Managing Director of the Sonargaon Hotel, Gholam Nabi said he did not know the matter as he had joined the post only a week back.

"But the authorities should have obtained approval of the plan before starting construction," said Nabi. "We will now apply for post-facto approval," he said.

According to official sources, almost all the government agencies particularly works ministry have a tendency to disregard building laws in construction work and do not bother about obtaining approval.

Even we ourselves have to obtain approval of design from Rajuk for construction of any of our own buildings, said an authorised officer of Rajuk requesting anonymity.

"Hotel Sonargaon is neither above nor exempted from the building law," he said.

It is not known how the hotel authorities are trying to fix the situation.

Even if they submit a fresh construction plan seeking approval, they have to first obtain land use clearance.

Rajuk Town Planner Zahurul Haq said: "I am not aware whether they have formally applied for land use clearance or not. Even if they have applied, I think they have not yet got the clearance."

Rajuk served the first notice on August 6 requesting the hotel authorities to produce an approved plan for the construction, but Sonargaon authorities failed to respond within the stipulated time.

Rajuk served the second notice on August 17 asking the hotel authorities to show cause within seven days as to why unauthorised construction of the hotel's extension should not be demolished.

The notice stated that the hotel authorities have been going on with the construction in violation of section three of the Building Construction Act of 1952.

In case Sonargaon authorities disregard the second notice too, Rajuk will demolish the unauthorised construction serving a third and final notice with a seven-day deadline, Rajuk officials had said earlier.