Justice Hasan Foez Siddique, a senior judge of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, has been appointed the 23rd Chief Justice of the country.
President M Abdul Hamid made the appointment yesterday in line with article 95(1) of the constitution as current Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain will retire today.
Article 95 (1) says, “The Chief Justice shall be appointed by the President, and the other Judges shall be appointed by the President after consultation with the Chief Justice.”
Justice Hasan Foez Siddique was one of the 10 judges who were dropped from the confirmation list of High Court judge, by the BNP-led four-party alliance government, that was in power since 2001 to 2006, despite the chief justice’s positive recommendation, as they were appointed during the Awami League tenure (1996
-2001).
The judges were reappointed as HC judges on March 24, 2009 in line with the Appellate Division verdict.
Justice Siddique was a member of the seven-member bench of the Appellate Division that scrapped the controversial sixteenth amendment of the constitution which had empowered the parliament to remove SC judges for incapacity or misconduct.
Besides, he delivered judgements on a number of important cases including the meaning of “life imprisonment”.
Justice Hasan Foez Siddique got enrolled as an advocate of the District Court, the High Court Division and the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh on August 21, 1981, on September 4, 1983 and on May 27 in 1999 respectively.
He acted as legal advisor to Khulna City Corporation, Kushtia Municipality, Jalalabad Gas Transmission Company, and chief law advisor of the Ministry of Home Affairs. Besides he worked as Additional Attorney General for Bangladesh.
He was elevated as judge of the High Court Division on March 25, 2009 and as a judge of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh on March 31 in 2013.
He has been acting as the chairman of Bangladesh Judicial Service Commission since April 30, 2015.