Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed will deliver his farewell address on 14 December ahead of his retirement later in the month, the Supreme Court administration has announced. He will speak to senior judicial officials serving in district courts across the country at a special session scheduled for the afternoon.
The event will be held at the Bangladesh Supreme Court auditorium, Supreme Court Public Relations Officer Md Shafiqul Islam said on Thursday.
He said the Chief Justice’s address will outline the reform activities undertaken over the past one and a half years to implement the judicial reform roadmap he had earlier announced, along with the future direction of the judiciary.
The speech will also provide directives on expanding technology-based court services, improving the professional skills of judicial officers, strengthening transparency in court operations, enhancing the capacity of subordinate courts, easing access to justice for litigants and reducing case backlog.
The session will begin at 3pm on 14 December, with district judges, metropolitan sessions judges, chief judicial magistrates and chief metropolitan magistrates from across Bangladesh expected to attend.
Syed Refaat Ahmed became the country’s 25th Chief Justice following the July 2024 mass uprising.
On 21 September last year, he unveiled a judicial reform roadmap that proposed establishing a separate secretariat for the judiciary, enacting specific laws on appointing judges to the higher court, creating a distinct judicial court structure and introducing measures to curb corruption.
The Supreme Court administration says several reforms have been implemented in line with this roadmap over the past 18 months.
The Chief Justice will retire on 27 December, making this his final address to the nation’s judicial officers before stepping down.
