Bangladesh News

The second High Court (HC) bench assigned by the chief justice yesterday accepted for hearing BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s writ petition against the government decision to cancel the allotment of her cantonment house.

Comprised of Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed and Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury, it set May 18 as hearing date after the former prime minister’s principal counsel TH Khan sought time for filing a supplementary petition to challenge the government’s recent show-cause notice.

Additional Attorney General M Enayetur Rahim told The Daily Star that the government will not take any action until the HC rules on Khaleda’s writ petition.

He also said because of the government’s May 7 show-cause notice, the previous notice asking her to vacate the house has lost its ’cause of action’ and rendered the writ petition ineffective.

So far, three HC benches have felt embarrassed and another, assigned by Chief Justice MM Ruhul Amin, declined to hear the petition.

Moudud Ahmed, another counsel for Khaleda, yesterday told reporters that the crisis seems to have been resolved with acceptance of his client’s petition for hearing by the bench of Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed and Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury.

Mentioning Khaleda’s letter asking the government to withdraw the show-cause notice by Friday, he said if the government opts not to comply with it, they will file a supplementary petition.

Of the four judges, one has explained in writing and one verbally the reasons for their declining to hear the petition. But the other two have yet to say why they felt embarrassed, said Moudud, also former law minister.

Khaleda, also leader of the opposition, filed the petition on May 3, seeking a stay on the decision to cancel the allotment of her cantonment residence and a rule upon the government to explain why its decision should not be declared illegal.

The same day two benches felt embarrassed to entertain the petition, Justice Zinat Ara and Justice AKM Abdul Hakim adjourned hearing on the attorney general’s assurance that the authorities would not move in a week to evict Khaleda from the house.

Then on May 10, Justice AKM Abdul Hakim felt embarrassed to hear the petition, prompting the chief justice to refer the matter to the bench of Justice M Anwarul Haque and Justice Farah Mahbub.

The following day, Anwarul Haque, senior judge of the bench, said he would not hear the petition, as he thinks he is disqualified to do so.

In response to the developments, the chief justice sent the petition to Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed and Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury.