Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan submitted his resignation letter to the law ministry, confirmed Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Adviser Dr Asif Nazrul on his verified Facebook account on Saturday.
In a video message, Nazrul said, “The chief justice has sent his resignation letter to the law ministry, and it will be forwarded to the president for further processing as soon as possible.”
“Only the chief justice has submitted his resignation, and no other justices have done so,” he added.
President Mohammed Shahabuddin appointed Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed as the new chief justice through Article 95(1) of the constitution, a notification by the law ministry reads.
He is the 25th chief justice of Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, five more judges of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court resigned from their posts.
The five judges are Justice M Enayetur Rahim, Justice Md Abu Zafor Siddique, Justice Jahangir Hossain Selim, Justice Md Shahinur Islam and Justice Kashefa Hussain.
They submitted their resignation letters to President Mohammed Shahabuddin through the law ministry.
Speaking to journalists after exchanging views with law ministry officials at the secretariat on Saturday, Nazrul also pointed out that Justice Obaidul had violated the code of conduct.
He said, “I have seen a status posted by one of the students-citizens. Obaidul Hasan had called a full court meeting without any discussion. He is widely considered to be the face of the despotic government's defeated forces.”
Nazrul then added, “There is another matter that is very sad. Obaidul Hasan had accepted floral greetings from the BCL after becoming the chief justice. It looks like a violation of the code of conduct to me. It does not leave a very good impression.
“There are many questions regarding DB Harun (Dhaka Metropolitan Police Detective Branch's then chief Harun-or-Rashid). The chief justice had also accepted the gift of a golden sword from him.”
Nazrul continued, “Awami League leaders used to stay at his [Obaidul’s] residence when they went abroad. There was a lot of controversy surrounding him. During the movement, he asked ‘why there was a movement?’ The students demanded his resignation. Today [Saturday], perhaps, this demand was reiterated.”
Earlier in the day, as the chief justice, Justice Obaidul convened a full court meeting with all justices from both divisions of the Supreme Court.
Protesting students viewed the full court meeting as an attempt to undermine the judiciary and announced a blockade of the High Court premises.
The protesters set a deadline, demanding the resignation of the chief justice and the Appellate Division justices by 1pm on Saturday.
In response to the protests, Justice Obaidul postponed the meeting and later announced his resignation.
