The law minister, Shafique Ahmed, on Monday said the government would take legal action against Khaleda Zia if she fails to vacate her house at Dhaka Cantonment, while the High Court has deferred till 2:00pm today the hearing of the writ petition filed by the opposition leader regarding the house.

‘According to law, the government can sue a person and take legal action to evict him/her, if the person does not leave a house or property even after being served with three notices,’ the law minister told reporters after a meeting held at the finance ministry on trial of the 1971 war criminals.

Replying to queries from the press, Shafique said Khaleda Zia has already been served with the third notice to hand over the house to the military estate officer by June 30… If she fails to go by the notice, legal action will be taken against her.’

The law minister came up with the statement a few hours after the High Court had deferred till 2:00pm today the hearing of the writ petition filed by Khaleda, also the Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson, challenging the notice.

A High Court bench of Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed and Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury deferred the hearing as Khaleda’s counsels sought time, saying they would file a supplementary petition challenging the third notice issued on Sunday.

After the court order, Khaleda’s counsel Moudud Ahmed, also a former law minister, told reporters the Directorate of Military Land and Cantonments served the third notice in violation of the High Court’s order that had asked the government not to harass her in any way regarding the house.

The third notice reminded Khaleda that the directorate had issued a notice on April 20 asking her to vacate the house in 15 days and a supplementary notice on May 7 asking her to explain in 15 days why she should not be directed to hand over the house to the military estate officer.

It stated that Khaleda had served the directorate a notice on May 10 through her lawyer stating that the supplementary notice had no application in respect of the property [house] on lease.

‘But, you [Khaleda] did not mention why the supplementary notice had no application in respect of the leased property.’

Khaleda’s possessing or staying in the house has no legal basis, as she did not reply to the supplementary notice, the third notice said.

The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, told parliament in the first week of April that she would ask the opposition leader to vacate the house claiming that the cantonment authorities had allotted the premises to Khaleda in violation of the laws.

The cabinet on April 8 decided to cancel Khaleda’s leasehold of the house she went to live in after her husband, former president Ziaur Rahman, was killed in a military putsch on May 30, 1981.

The Directorate of Military Land and Cantonments issued the first notice on April 20 asking her to vacate the 6 Moinul Road house in Dhaka cantonment within 15 days. She filed a writ petition on May 3 challenging the notice.

She filed a supplementary petition on May 17 challenging the second notice served by the directorate on May 7 asking her to explain in 15 days why she should not be directed to return the house to the authorities concerned.

The Zia family has been living in the house since the 1970s. The 2.72-acre bunglow was originally the official home of the army chief, a position held by the then Lieutenant General Ziaur Rahman.

- New Age