Bangladesh appoints new chief justice

Bangladesh today appointed Syed Mahmud Hossain as the new chief justice, three months after his predecessor and the country's first Hindu chief justice was virtually forced to resign amid "grave" graft allegations. The president's office said yesterday that Justice Hossain had been appointed as the 22nd chief justice of the country. President Abdul Hamid administered the oath of office to Hossain, said a senior judge of the apex Appellate Division of the Supreme Court. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina along with her cabinet colleagues and Supreme Court judges witnessed the swearing in ceremony at the presidential palace. Hossain's appointment prompted acting chief justice Abdul Wahab Mian to immediately tender his resignation on an "unavoidable personal reason", but sources familiar with the situation said he preferred to quit as his seniority was violated. Mian was appointed as the acting chief justice after the country's first Hindu chief justice Surendra Kumar Sinha resigned in November last year amid graft allegations. Sinha had developed a visible row with the ruling government over a crucial Supreme Court judgement. The resignation came a month after Sinha went on leave abroad after the allegations of corruption had surfaced amid his row that sparked in July last year. Sinha was at the centre stage of the dispute after the apex court delivered a verdict declaring void 16th constitutional amendment, scrapping parliament's authority in impeaching Supreme Court judges. The dispute grew in the subsequent weeks as several ministers attacked Sinha for blasting the government for its reactions over the verdict and his reference to ousted Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who was stripped of his premiership by the country's apex court. Sinha had left Dhaka for Australia on a private tour on October 13, saying he was leaving temporarily in the interest of the judiciary so that its image did not get hurt. A day after his departure, the Supreme Court issued a statement saying all other apex court judges earlier in October 2017 had decided not to sit in the bench with Sinha over allegations of "grave" graft and moral lapses brought to their notice by President Hamid. It said the allegations included some "grave" charges like money laundering, financial irregularities, corruption and moral lapses. In unitary Bangladesh, the Supreme Court has two wings, the High Court Division and the apex Appellate Division. Born in 1954, Justice Hossain acted as deputy attorney general from December 1999 until he was elevated to the bench. In February 2011, he was elevated to the Supreme Court's Appellate Division.

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