Country's 26th Chief Justice,Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury. File photo

DHAKA, Dec 24, 2025 (BSS) - Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has been appointed as the country's 26th Chief Justice.

A notification, signed by Law Secretary Liaquet Ali Molla, was issued to this end on Tuesday (December 23), as per the President's order.

The notification said the President, by virtue of the powers conferred by Article 95 (1) of the Constitution, has appointed Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury of the Appellate Division as the Chief Justice of Bangladesh. 

The appointment will come into effect from the date of taking oath.

The country's 25th Chief Justice, Syed Refaat Ahmed, will go on retirement on December 27 as he is going to complete the retirement age of 67 years as per the constitution.

Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury was enrolled in the District Judges' Court in 1985 and as an advocate of the High Court Division of the Supreme Court in 1987. 

On August 27, 2003, he was appointed as an additional judge of the High Court Division. Two years later, he became a permanent judge of the High Court Division. 

On August 13, 2024, he was elevated to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.

After completing his LLB (Hons) and LLM degrees from Dhaka University, Chowdhury obtained another Masters degree in international law from the UK.

Throughout his judicial career, Justice Chowdhury participated in a number of international conferences, seminars, training programmes and courses in Brussels, Belgium (1988); Prince Edward University, Canada (1990); Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (2000, 2002 and 2006); Quebec, Canada (2001); Singapore (2007); and Nepal (2012).