President Mohammed Shahabuddin appointed on Saturday Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed as the 25th chief justice of Bangladesh.
Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed, seniormost judge of the High Court Division of the Supreme Court, was first appointed as judge of the Appellate Division and then appointed as chief justice, Law Secretary Md Golam Sarwar said.
The appointment came after Obaidul Hassan stepped down from his post of chief justice. His decision came following students’ protests on the day.
The five other judges of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court also resigned from their posts in the face of the protest.
The students issued an ultimatum to them to resign by 1:00pm on Saturday.
The five other judges are Justice M Enayetur Rahim, Justice Abu Zafar Siddique, Justice Jahangir Hossain, Justice Md Shahinur Islam and Justice Kashefa Hossain.
Sources at the law ministry and the apex court confirmed this latest update.
In a video message posted on Facebook, law, justice and parliamentary affairs adviser Prof Dr Asif Nazrul said, "I feel it is necessary to share special news with you. Our chief justice resigned few minutes ago."
"His resignation letter has already reached the law ministry. We will send it to the President without delay for taking necessary measures."
The adviser hoped the process would be done very soon. "We've received the resignation letter of the chief justice only. There is no update about (resignation) of others."
The President appointed Obaidul Hassan as Chief Justice on 12 September 2023.
Five other judges resigned in the evening and sent their letters to the Supreme Court administration.
Supreme Court registrar general Aziz Ahmed Bhuiyan told the FE that five other judges sent their resignation letters to the President through law ministry.
They mentioned personal reasons behind their resignation in the letters.
Earlier in the day, protesters issued an ultimatum to the CJ and other judges of the Appellate Division to resign by 1:00 pm, otherwise they threatened to besiege their residences.
Hasnat Abdullah, one of the coordinators of the movement, made the declaration from the apex court.
Around 10:30 am, several hundred protesters, including students and lawyers, started gathering on the SC premises to press home their demand.
In the morning, Asif Mahmud, youth and sports adviser of the interim government, in a Facebook post demanded unconditional resignation of the CJ.
A virtual full court meeting of the SC judges was scheduled for 10:00 am.
Amid the protest, the CJ postponed the meeting, which was convened to decide whether the functions of the court would go on virtually.
Coordinator Hasnat demanded that Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed of the High Court be appointed as the next CJ.
In a statement in the afternoon, he also called for students and residents of Dhaka city to march towards the HC premises.
In another development, adviser Asif Nazrul urged students not to harm or disrupt proceedings at lower courts as he had information on the siege of such courts in different districts.
In a video message on his verified Facebook page, the adviser said students should not lay siege to lower courts as their demand was the resignation of the CJ and some other judges only.
"I request the agitating students not to do any vandalism in district courts."
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