Dhaka: Main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chief Khaleda Zia has apparently lost a legal battle to retain a posh residence in a military barracks after a High Court verdict ordered her to vacate the facility in a month's time.

"The court asked her to hand over the cantonment residence to the competent authority in next 30 days," a court official said quoting the verdict validating an earlier government notice served on the opposition leader.

The High Court bench comprising Judges Nazmun Ara Sulatana and Shaikh Hassan Arif pronounced the judgment on a writ by Zia asking the government to give her one month to vacate the house. Zia's lawyers, however, said they were expected to file an appeal with the apex Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.

Zia's arch-rival Prime Minister Shaikh Hasina's Awami League-led government last year asked her to vacate the posh residence that sits on a 2.72 acres area at the Dhaka Cantonment, which she was allotted 29 years ago under a controversial lease agreement.

The cabinet on April 8, 2009 cancelled the lease on grounds that the leasing process had been faulty and she violated lease terms while the subsequent notices furthermore said she was carrying out political activities from the house located in a "protected area".

The authorities in May last year issued a third notice on Zia asking her to leave the house by June 30 and turn over the facility to the military estate officer of the Dhaka Cantonment.

Zia filed the writ petition on May 3, 2009, challenging the notice.

Security restriction

A subsequent security restriction barring visitors from entering Zia's residence during the Eid sparked protests in the opposition camp with BNP calling it an "undemocratic and undesirable" decision.

Hasina earlier urged her archrival to return the house to the state, saying "taking possession of a house illegally by a former [prime minister], who is now the leader of the opposition, is not fair".

"She [Zia] should return the house to the state. Why should she force us to take possession of the house? When I was the leader of the opposition, I was [even] barred from entering the cantonment with my vehicle to visit ailing writer Humayun Azad at Combined Military Hospital, then why will the present leader of the opposition live inside the cantonment?" the Bangladesh prime minister asked.

Then military ruler president Hussain Mohammad Ershad had allocated her another posh house at uptown Gulshan area in 1981 while she was again offered a bigger house on area of 2.72 acres of land at the cantonment in 1982.

"Under the rules two houses cannot be allocated to one person," a government statement earlier said.