Tk 300cr Dhanmondi house is govt property: SC

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Monday upheld a High Court ruling saying that the abandoned house worth nearly Tk 300 crore in Dhaka's Dhanmondi Road No. 2 belongs to the government.

Earlier in a verdict the High Court ruled that the Tk 300 crore house in Dhanmondi, claimed by journalist Abed Khan and S Nehal Ahmed, will be owned by the government.

The three-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique passed the order after dismissing an appeal filed by S Nehal Ahmed claiming the ownership of the property.

The court has also upheld a Tk 10,000 fine for journalist Abed Khan for concealing information and filing a writ claiming ownership of the house.

In a verdict, the HC bench comprising Justice Md Ashfaqul Islam and Justice Md Suhrawardy had on November 21 in 2022 fined Abed Khan Tk 10,000 for filing a writ petition for deceiving the court by suppressing information.

In 1992, the court of settlement in Dhaka rejected a case filed by Abed Khan to exclude his father's house on 20-katha land worth Tk 300 crore at Dhamondi-2 from the list of abandoned property.

Abed Khan did not disclose the result of his case to the High Court when he filed a writ petition in 2015 to exclude the same house from the list of abandoned property.

Attorney General AM Amin Uddin and Deputy Attorney General Kazi Mainul Hasan appeared for the state while Advocate Kamrul Huq Siddique appeared on behalf of Abed Khan during the court proceedings.

Deputy Attorney General Kazi Mainul Hasan told media that the property is on one bigha land, including the house which is now in  government possession as an abandoned property.

Abed Khan said that the then East Pakistani government on the basis of a registrar lease deed allocated the house in favour of his father Abdul Hakim Khan on 11 November 1957.

The house was declared abandoned on 23 September 1986 after purchasers left the country in 1972.

Three government officials are now residing in the house.