President accepts Sinha’s resignation

President Abdul Hamid accepted on Tuesday the resignation letter of the Chief Justice SK Sinha, reports UNB.

Earlier, on Saturday, President received his resignation letter.

Amid various speculations and row over the Supreme Court's 16th amendment verdict, Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, now abroad, signed his resignation letter on Friday.

Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha went on leave on October 03 and left for Australia on October 13.

Just before his departure, Sinha told reporters that he was not sick, contradicting the government claim that he went on leave on health ground.

He also said he was not fleeing the country, but embarrassed' due to criticism by the ruling party.

"I'm the guardian of the judiciary. I'm leaving temporarily for the sake of the judiciary... I'll return."

A day after Sinha's trip to Australia, the Supreme Court issued a statement saying the Chief Justice is facing 11 charges, including graft and money laundering.

It also said five judges of the Appellate Division of the apex court declined to sit with Sinha in the bench for delivering justice following the allegations.

Talking to reporters the same day, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said rejoining the office of the CJ after his return from abroad is "a far cry."

As Sinha went on leave, the government made Md Abdul Wahhab Miah the acting chief justice. The law ministry also issued a gazette notification in this regard.

Sinha's leave expired on Friday but there was no update about his return.

On July 03 last, the Appellate Division, led by Sinha, upheld a High Court verdict that declared illegal the 16th amendment of the constitution scrapping the Jatiya Sangsad's power to remove Supreme Court judges for incapacity or misconduct.

Later on August 01, the Supreme Court released the 799-page text of the verdict after its six judges including Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha signed it.

Sinha was widely criticised by ministers and ruling party leaders for his observations made in the verdict. They also demanded his resignation.

SK Sinha assumed office on January 17, 2015 as the country's 21st Chief Justice. He was the first non-Muslim chief justice in Muslim majority Bangladesh. Sinha was supposed to go on retirement on January 31 next.