The chief
justice of Bangladesh on Monday referred
the petition of Khaleda Zia to a fifth bench of the High Court after yet
another bench declined to hear the appeal against an executive order asking the
opposition leader to vacate the cantonment house.
The bench of justices Syed Rifat
Ahmed and Mainul Islam Chowdhury will hear the petition on Tuesday morning
Earlier in the day, a fourth
bench of justices Md Anwarul Haque and Farah Mahbub said it was unable to hear
the appeal because a judge of the two-strong bench had given his views on the
house as a government official long ago.
The referred the case to the
chief justice for further orders.
Chief justice MM Ruhul Amin
constituted the bench on Sunday after a third bench felt embarrassed to hear
the petition.
At the start of the hearing, when
Khaleda's lawyer TH Khan appealed for more time, Md Anwarul Haque, the senior
judge of the bench, since he had given his views, he would not be able to hear
any petition on the matter.
He cited the code of conduct for
the judges to express his inability. But the bench did not feel embarrassed.
Khan said the bench was obligated
to hear the petition according to the oath of office of the judges.