Bangladesh News

Former chief adviser to a caretaker government, Justice Latifur Rahman, finally moves out of a government residence today, which was allocated to him under ’special considerations’ by the prime minister after his term in the interim government had ended over four and a half years back.

“Yes, I will leave the house tomorrow (Monday),” Latifur Rahman, also a former chief justice, told The Daily Star yesterday. He will move to a Dhanmondi apartment, sources said.

Latifur Rahman continued to live in the Mintoo Road residence although his three-month tenure expired on October 10, 2001, after the takeover of the country’s administration by the new government of BNP-Jamaat-led alliance.

Quoting sources, The Daily Star on May 14 this year reported that Prime Minister Khaleda Zia herself gave permission to Latifur Rahman to stay in the government residence considering him a ‘distinguished citizen’.

The housing and works ministry officials then said that as per the rules prime minister and ministers may stay at their official residences for a maximum period of three months after their terms end.

Referring to the news item, Awami League lawmaker Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim blasted the government in parliament on July 9, alleging that the prime minister violated her oath by allocating the official residence to Latifur Rahman.

“He was rewarded by the BNP government for his role in 2001 general elections,” Selim told.

Housing and Public Works Minister Mirza Abbas did not make any comments over the matter on that day.

But a few days later he informed the House in a statement that government did not violate any rule through this allotment.