Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain has taken oath as the country’s 22nd chief justice (CJ).
The new CJ was sworn-in by President Abdul Hamid around 7:00pm at Bangabhaban.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, ministers and high officials from military and the civil administration were present at the ceremony, among others.
Earlier, the president on Friday appointed Justice Mahmud, a judge of Appellate Division (AD) of the Supreme Court (SC), as the country’s new CJ.
The CJ post fell vacant after CJ Surendra Kumar Sinha resigned on November 10 last year after going on leave on health ground only the previous month.
Following his leave, the senior-most judge of the AD Justice Md Abdul Wahhab Miah had been carrying out functions as the CJ from October 3, 2017.
UNB said Justice Abdul Wahab Miah quit his post on Friday hours after the announcement of the new CJ.
Born in 1954, Justice Mahmud obtained BSc, LLB and completed six-month-long ‘Commonwealth Young Lawyers Course’ from the School of Oriental African Studies and the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, both part of London University.
He was enrolled as an advocate of the District Court and the High Court Division of Bangladesh Supreme Court in the year 1981 and 1983 respectively. Mahmud Hossain also acted as Deputy Attorney General from December, 1999 till elevation to the bench.
Bdnews24 said he was elevated as an additional judge of the High Court Division in 2001 and judge of the division in 2003. Later, he was elevated to the AD of the apex court in 2011.