Twenty-three new judges appointed to the High Court Division of the Supreme Court have been sworn in.
The judges were appointed to the High Court amidst growing calls for the removal of at least 30 judges previously appointed during the 15-year tenure of the Awami League. The AL government was ousted on August 5 following the historic student-mass movement.
The President made these appointments — the first under the interim government — on Tuesday night and the newly appointed judges were sworn in on Wednesday morning. The Law Ministry has issued a notification in this regard
on Tuesday night. According to the notification issued by law secretary Md Golam Rabbani, the appointees include six retired district and sessions judges, one serving judge, seven deputy attorneys general, and nine senior Supreme Court lawyers.
President Mohammed Shahabuddin made the appointments for two years in line with article 98 of the constitution.
Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed administered the oath of the new judges at the Supreme Court Judge’s Lounge.
Supreme Court registrar general Aziz Ahmed Bhuiyan moderated the oath-taking ceremony where judges of the High Court and Appellate divisions, attorney general Md. Asaduzzaman, president of Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) AM Mahbub Uddih Khokon and families of the newly appointed judges were present.
With the new appointments, the number of judges at the High Court division has been raised to 101.
The 23 new judges are-- Md Golam Martuza Mazumder, Syed Enayet Hossain, Md Monsur Alam, Syed Zahed Mansur, KM Rasheduzzaman Raza, Md Zabid Hossain, Mubina Asaf, Qazi Waliul Islam, Ainun Nahar Siddiqua Lipi, Md Abdul Mannan, Tamanna Rahman, Md Shafiul Alam Mahmud, Md Hamidur Rahman, Nasrin Akhter, Sathika Hossain, Syed Mohammad Tazrul Hossain, Md Toufik Inam, Yusuf Abdullah Sumon, Sheikh Tahsin Ali, Foyez Ahmed, Md Sogir Hossain, Shikder Mahmudur Razee and Debashish Roy Chowdhury.
Among the judges, Syed Enayet Hossain in 2017 delivered verdict of the seven murder case in Narayanganj in 2014.
The serving judge Md Abdul Mannan is currently serving at the Khulna Administrative Tribunal.
The seven deputy attorneys general who become HC judges are— Qazi Waliul Islam, Ainun Nahar Siddiqua Lipi, Nasrin Akhter, Sathika Hossain, Syed Mohammad Tazrul Hossain, Sheikh Tahsin Ali and Foyez Ahmed.
Among the 10 prominent lawyers appointed are— Mubina Asaf (daughter of retired civil servant and columnist M Asafuddowlah), Tamanna Rahman, Md Shafiul Alam Mahmud, Md Hamidur Rahman (junior to AF Hassan Arif), Md Toufiq Inam (junior to BNP leader Khandaker Mahbub Uddin Ahmed), Yousuf Abdullah Sumon (junior to former speaker Jamiruddin Sircar), Md Sagir Hossain (junior to pro-BNP lawyer Advocate Zainul Abedin), Shikder Mahmud Raza, and Debashish Roy Chowdhury (son of BNP leader Nitai Roy Chowdhury).
Notably, this is the largest judicial appointment in the Supreme Court since the fall of the Awami League government.
