At last HC to hear Khaleda’s writ on cantt house on May 18

Stay on extortion case against PM vacated for its withdrawal
Eventually the High Court agreed to hear on May 18 a writ challenging government notice which asked BNP chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia to abandon her cantonment house.
A division bench comprising Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed and Justice Moinul Islam Chowdhury fixed the date after the writ being refused by four other benches.
Tuesday morning Barrister Jamiruddin Sircar requested the court to pick the matter for hearing late as petitioner’s senior counsel TH Khan was engaged in another case then.
At noon TH Khan informed the court of incidents of embarrassment by several benches stating that they are in serious problem and anxiety with regard to arranging a hearing of the matter.
He said that reply to the second notice of the government has already been submitted and now time for preparing a supplementary application to challenge the second notice is required.
At this stage the court granted them hearing adjournment for seven days fixing May 18 for the purpose.
Barrister Moudud Ahmed told reporters that the problem which was caused by embarrassments by several benches has been resolved for the time being due to fixation of a hearing date.
He said four judges refused to hear the writ, of them only one expressed in writing the reason for his embarrassment, two did not assign any reason and remaining assigned reason verbally.
Meanwhile, the High Court vacated stay on the proceedings of Tk 3 crore extortion case against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, removing a legal obstacle from the way of withdrawing the case by the plaintiff.
A division bench Justice ABM Khairul Haque and Justice Md Momtazuddin Ahmed passed the order following an application which was filed by Sheikh Hasina on May 10 in this regard.
The case was filed against Sheikh Hasina during the caretaker government’s heavy crackdown on politicians but shortly after that plaintiff Azam J Chowdhury refused to have filed any case against her.
Later Azam J Chowdhury submitted an application requesting the Home Ministry to give permission for withdrawal of the case. On January 1, 2009 he apologized to the trial (lower) court for falsely implicating Sheikh Hasina in his case and he prayed for court’s order effecting withdrawal of the case. That time the trial court expressed its inability to give such decision unless stay order is lifted by the High Court.
Hasina’s counsel Barrister Rafiqul Haque said that following lifting stay on proceedings by the High Court there is no bar left to withdrawing the case in the lower court.
It latest development the government decided to withdraw all cases against Sheikh Hasina. As a part of this, on February 21, 2009, the Home Ministry gave its recommendation for lifting Azam J Chowdhury’s case.

Courtesy of The Bangladesh Today