Dhaka: The High Court has assigned a new bench comprising Justice M Nuruzzaman and Justice M Jafar Ahmed to dispose of four separate petitions filed by Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson Khaleda Zia in three graft cases against her.

Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha formed the bench on Tuesday to deal with the petitions filed in Niko, Gatco and Barapukuria coalmine scam cases.

On 5 April, the earlier bench of Justice Moinul Islam Chowdhury and Justice JBM Hassan had sent appeals to the chief justice for immediate solution following a no-confidence application field by Khaleda Zia.

On 11 March, the BNP chief submitted the no-confidence application to the Chief Justice through her lawyers, saying she might not get proper justice from the bench of Moinul Islam Chowdhury and Justice JBM Hassan as one of the lawyers of the bench took part in the Supreme Court Bar election under the ruling party banner.

In the application she requested to reconstitute the bench for disposing of the petitions in the cases.

However, the former bench was set to deliver the verdict of the petitions on 5 April.

The Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the Niko and Gatco corruption cases against Khaleda in 2007 and Barapukuria coalmine graft case against her in 2008.