A third High Court bench admitted Sunday the writ petition of BNP chief Khaleda Zia for ruling out the government notice that ordered her to vacate the Dhaka Cantonment house.

The bench of justices Zinnat Ara Sultana and Abdul Hakim adjourned hearing until next Sunday on attorney general Mahbubey Alam's assurance that the opposition leader would not be harassed.

Earlier, two benches felt embarrassed to hear the petition.

The bench of justices Syed Mahmud Hossain and Kamrul Islam Siddiqui was the second to decline a hearing.

The bench of justices Tariqul Hakim and M Azizul Haque that had permitted the lawyers for opposition leader to submit an affidavit prior to filing the writ appeal felt embarrassed in hearing the appeal.

It asked the lawyers to go to another bench.

Military lands and cantonments directorate served Khaleda the notice on April 20 asking her to vacate her cantonment house within 15 days.

Tuesday was the deadline to leave the house but Khaleda is not obligated to do so pending appeal.

The cabinet on April 8 cancelled the lease on the house on grounds that the leasing process had been faulty and she violated lease terms.

Appeal filed

Khaleda's lawyers had filed the writ appeal at 1:30pm with the first bench to overturn the April 20 notice served by the military lands and cantonments directorate.

Her counsel Mahabub Uddin Khokon told bdnews24.com at noon, "We have got permission to file the writ petition."

"I'm taking the affidavit to my client now for her signature. We hope to deposit the writ appeal today."

He said court order for affidavit deposition is an integral part of the writ filing procedure.

Khaleda responds

Khaleda responded to the government's notice with a legal notice of her own on April 23.

After murder of her husband, army chief-turned-president Ziaur Rahman on May 30, 1981 during a military uprising, his widow, Khaleda, was given another house in Gulshan in addition to the house in the cantonment the family had been living since the 1970s.

The 2.72-acre mansion was originally the official home of the army chief, a position held by then Lt Gen Zia who then converted himself into a civilian head of state through martial law proclamations and controversial votes.

Before the cabinet took the decision of cancelling Khaleda house lease, prime minister Sheikh Hasina said in parliament that she would ask the slain general's wife to vacate the house and that blocks of apartments would be built in the prime land for families of army officers killed in the Feb mutiny.


Source: bdnews24