President Md Abdul Hamid administered the oath to him at Bangabhaban in Dhaka around 7:10pm on Saturday, reports UNB.

According to the report, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, former chief justices, ministers, advisers to the prime minister, the chief whip, Supreme Court judges, the attorney general, senior lawyers, the chief election commissioner and chiefs of the three services were, among others, present at the event.

The swearing-in ceremony was conducted by Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam.

Justice Hossain was appointed as the 22nd chief justice barely three months after Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha resigned from the post after a bitter conflict with the government over several issues.

Hours after his appointment on Friday, Justice Md Abdul Wahhab Miah, the senior most Appellate Division judge who had been carrying out the activities of chief justice, had resigned from the division.

The post of the chief justice had fallen vacant when Justice Sinha resigned on November 10 last year after taking a leave of absence on health grounds in October.

Justice Miah was made the acting chief justice after Justice Sinha went abroad on leave. According to the age limit, Miah could have served till November 10, 2018.

Elevated to the Appellate Division in February 2011, Justice Hossain had joined the High Court Division as an additional judge in 2001, only two years after Justice Miah.

Before his High Court appointment, Justice Hossain had served as a deputy attorney general since December 1999.

He started practising law as an advocate in the District Court level in 1981, and two years later, he went on to practice in the High Court.

With Justice Miah’s resignation, Justice Hossain, who has three more years before his retirement, is now the senior most judge in the Appellate Division.

The other three Appellate Division judges are Justice Muhammad Imman Ali, Justice Hasan Foez Siddique and Justice Mirza Hussain Haider.

Source: Dhaka Tribune.