CJ Syed Mahmud Hossain pledges to increase coordination among three pillars of state

Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain has pledged to do whatever it takes to sustain coordination among the three pillars of the state: the judiciary, the legislative and the executive.

“Strong coordination among the three pillars is what a state needs in order to progress. Development process is hindered when the three pillars do not act collectively,” he said on Sunday on his first day in office as the chief justice.

The Supreme Court arranged a reception to welcome the new chief justice on Sunday.

Rifts between the executive and the judiciary made headlines several times when Surendra Kumar Sinha served the Supreme Court as its chief justice from Jan 2015 to Nov 2017.

President Md Abdul Hamid made the most senior judge of the Appellate Division Abdul Wahhab Miah the acting CJ after Sinha resigned while in Australia.

With 10 months left of his term, Justice Wahhab resigned on Friday after President Hamid appointed Justice Hossain.

Hossain was sworn in at a ceremony at Bangabhaban, the official residence of the president, on Saturday.

Judges of the High Court and Appellate Division, current and former leaders of the Supreme Court Bar Association and senior lawyers attended the reception on Sunday. 

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam and Supreme Court Bar Association President Zainul Abedin spoke on the occasion.

The new chief justice stressed overcoming the practice of unnecessarily pending and scraping cases and making the best use of technology to digitise the judicial system.

“We must develop an image that will make people believe that no matter which social class they belong to, they will get justice. We must win their trust,” said Justice Hossain.

The chief justice described how important it was to create a law for appointing judges in line with relevant parts of the constitution.

Justice Hossain will pay tributes to Liberation War martyrs at the National Memorial in Savar and independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at Bangabandhu Memorial Museum in Dhanmondi later in the day, said special officer of the Supreme Court Mohammad Saifur Rahman.