New chief justice reconstitutes 2 SC benches

Newly appointed Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, known as SK Sinha, today reconstituted two benches of the Appellate Division on the first day of his office.
He was sworn in as the 21th chief justice of the country at 11:00 in the morning.
President Abdul Hamid administered the oath at Darbar hall of Bangabhaban, residence-cum-office of the president, in Dhaka.
The chief justice will head the first bench comprising Justice Najmun Ara Sultana, Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, and Justice Hasan Foez Siddique as its members.
On the other hand, Justice Md Wahhab Mia will lead the second bench with Justice Md Iman Ali and Justice AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik as its members.
SC Registrar SM Kuddus Zaman confirmed the reconstitution of the benches to The Daily Star.
Justice Wahhab Miah and Justice Shamsuddin Chowdhury were members of the first bench which heard and disposed of all appeals in war crimes cases.
Wahhab Miah had sentenced Jamaat-e-Islami leader Abdul Quader Mollah to life term imprisonment for his crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971.
While Justice Shamsuddin Chowdhury agreed with three other judges who had sentenced Mollah to death on the war crime charges.
Following the reconstitution of the apex court benches, now it will take couple of days to know whether Justice Shamsuddin Chowdhury will deal with the war crimes cases or not, Supreme Court registrar SM Kuddus Zaman told The Daily Star.
However, the oath taking ceremony of the Chief Justice SK Sinha was conducted by Cabinet Secretary M Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan.
Many constitutional post holders including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Jatiya Sangshad Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chowdhry, appellate division judges, former chief justices, ministers, High Court judges, chiefs of armed forces, attorney general, senior lawyer Dr Kamal Hossain and Rafique-Ul Haq were present at the oath ceremony.