As required by the Constitution, Dr. Syed Refaat Ahmed, the nation’s 25th Chief Justice, will retire today after reaching the age of 67.
In the meantime, the 26th Chief Justice of the nation is already Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury of the Supreme Court’s Appellate Division.
After the July Mass Uprising, Dr. Syed Refaat Ahmed was sworn in as Chief Justice on August 11, 2024.
A former student of Dhaka University, Dr Ahmed obtained his law degree with first-class honours from Wadham College, University of Oxford, UK. He later earned a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy (MALD) and a PhD from the Fletcher School at Tufts University in the United States. Syed Refaat Ahmed served in the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as an immigration law expert.
In 1984, Syed Refaat started practicing law in the Dhaka District Court, and in 1986, he joined the High Court Division. He was named an Additional Judge of the High Court on April 27, 2003, and two years later he was made a permanent judge.
He is the son of Dr. Sufia Ahmed, the first female National Professor of Bangladesh and a veteran of the language movement who was awarded the Ekushey Padak, and Barrister Ishtiaq Ahmed, a former Attorney General and counsel to the Caretaker Government on two occasions.
Dr. Ahmed unveiled a plan for the nation’s judiciary shortly after taking office as Chief Justice. He conducted a number of significant actions during his term, such as creating a distinct secretariat for the judiciary and drafting rules pertaining to judicial appointments.
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