The government will go for a legal fight with the High Court (HC) to establish that BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has been illegally occupying the cantonment residence, and the notice asking her to vacate the house has been issued lawfully.
The HC, on May 27 this year, following a writ petition filed by Khaleda Zia, issued a rule upon the government to explain why the notice should not be declared illegal.
The HC also stayed for three months the government's third notice, and the same court, on August 23, extended for four months the stay order.
Attorney General Mahbubey Alam recently told The Daily Star that they would not move to the Supreme Court (SC) to stay the High Court order for a temporary period, but place arguments and submissions verbally and in black and white before the court, turning down the legal points made in the writ petition filed by Khaleda Zia.
"We will fight for obtaining final verdict from the High Court in favour of the government," he said.
He said his office would prepare the reply of the High Court rule, stating that Khaleda Zia has been illegally occupying the cantonment residence and there is no precedence in the world where a civilian, like Khaleda Zia, can occupy any property earmarked for the army officials.
Those persons, who had showed excessive loyalty to Khaleda Zia and allocated the cantonment house to her by abusing the state powers, should be tried and punished, he said.
The attorney general said if the residence is not recovered from the 'illegal possession', the property will go to the real estate businessmen in future.
"We will move to the High Court to vacate its order staying the notice to Khaleda Zia, after completing the hearings on the president's reference for Supreme Court opinion on the trial mode of BDR mutiny, appeals in Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman assassination case and the fifth-amendment case", he said.
Mahbubey Alam said he is confident enough to prove the legality of the government notice, as there are so many legal grounds in favour of issuing it.
He also pointed out that Khaleda Zia has not made any reply to the government's show case notice.
On May 7, the government issued a notice asking Khaleda Zia to show cause within 15 days as to why she should not be directed to return the estate, including the cantonment house.