The government has appointed former High Court judge Md Abdur Rashid as chairman of the Bangladesh Law Commission.
Sources said the prime minister has recently signed the file regarding his appointment as per the Law Commission Act 1996.
The file yesterday reached the law ministry, which will soon issue a notification on the appointment. The government in consultation with the new chairman will then appoint two members of the commission, sources said.
When contracted, Justice Rashid told The Daily Star that he did not receive letter on his appointment as chairman of the Law Commission till 7:30pm yesterday.
"Let me join the office and then I will determine the tasks to make the Law Commission effective," he said.
He retired from the office of the High Court judge on January 27 this year.
Law Commission Secretary Noor Md Jahangir Sarker while talking to The Daily Star at his office yesterday afternoon expressed satisfaction on the appointment of new chairman of the commission, as the post has been lying vacant for about 16 months.
He hoped that activities of the commission will get momentum with the appointment of the new chairman.
Formed in 1996 to help modernise the country's law and judicial system, the Law Commission has been inactive due to shortage of manpower and logistic supports for a long time.
The post of chairman of the commission has remained vacant since December 5, 2007 when the term of then chairman Justice Mustafa Kamal expired.
Another member of the commission retired on February 22 last year but the government did not take initiative to fill the vacant post. Justice Md Sirajul Islam went on retirement on March 8 this year.
Apart from the two key posts, 10 official posts of the commission out of 13, including the chief research officer, two senior research officers and two translation officers, have remained vacant for the past nine months.