# Syed Refaat Ahmed

Syed Refaat Ahmed (born 28 December 1958) is a Bangladeshi lawyer and jurist who is the current and 25th chief justice of Bangladesh. Before that he was elevated to the Appellate Division and President of Bangladesh appointed him as the chief justice. Previously, he was a judge at the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh.

## Early life and education

Ahmed was born on 28 December 1958. His father, Syed Ishtiaq Ahmed, was a prominent Bangladeshi lawyer and former attorney general of Bangladesh. His mother, Sufia Ahmed, was a National Professor of Bangladesh and a professor of Islamic history and culture at the University of Dhaka. Justice Ahmed's maternal grandfather, Justice Muhammad Ibrahim, was a noted jurist, vice-chancellor of the University of Dhaka, and the law minister of Pakistan.
Ahmed completed his H.S.C. in 1978 from Dhaka College. He completed his bachelor of laws (LL.B) degree with honours at the University of Dhaka. Later, he completed a bachelor of arts (BA) and master's (MA) in jurisprudence at Wadham College of Oxford University. He earned another Master of Arts (MA) in Law and Diplomacy and Ph.D. at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy administered by Tufts University in cooperation with Harvard University. Justice Ahmed was awarded the Ford Foundation Fellowship in Public International Law while at The Fletcher School. Ahmed is a Refugee and Migration Law enthusiast and beyond his academic and professional specialisation in these fields has participated in specialist programmes conducted by the International Institute of Humanitarian Law (IIHL), San Remo, Italy.

## Career

Ahmed began his career as a lawyer in London's financial district, the City. In 1984, Ahmed was enrolled as an advocate of the Dhaka district and sessions judge Court. He became enrolled as an advocate of the High Court Division in 1986. He also worked at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Hong Kong and Washington, D.C. In 2002, Ahmed became an advocate of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh.
Ahmed was appointed an additional judge of the High Court Division of the Supreme Court on 27 April 2003. In 2003, AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik accused traffic police officers of contempt of court for not saluting his car. The inspector general of Bangladesh Police, Shahudul Haque, issued a rejoinder that said traffic police are under no obligations to salute anyone, and they could do so if it was safe. The Bangladesh High Court bench of Justice M A Matin and Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed issued a contempt of court charge against Haque which automatically removed him from the post of inspector general according to the law. The government of Bangladesh secured a presidential pardon that protected Haque's job.
Ahmed was made a permanent judge on the High Court Division on 27 April 2005.
In 2008, commonly known as the UCBL Case, the first of its kind considered under the Companies Act, 1994 read with the Depository Act, 1999 and the Depository (User) Regulations, 2003, Justice Ahmed, through his verdict, ensured the protection of the interests of small-time shareholders against machinations of major equity investors to defeat the interests of the former group's divided entitlements by resort to a pre-fixed Record Date as determinant of closure of the company's Share Register (A.B.M. Khalikuzzaman and Others vs United Commercial Bank and Others [28 BLD (HCD) 2008, 635]).
In 2009, Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed heard a petition challenging the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord filed by a Bengali settler in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and Bangladesh Jammat e Islami lawyer.
In his 2012 judgment in Axiata (Bangladesh) Ltd. alias Robi Axiata Ltd. vs. Govt. of Bangladesh and Others, the Court dealt with a revenue matter of some significance by holding that in granting or renewing Cellular Mobile Phone Operator's Licenses, assignments of spectrum, etc., the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) ats as a statutory body that provides statutory taxable services under the Bangladesh Telecommunication Act, 2001 read with the Value Added Tax. 1991. It was found that between the government and a given telecommunication operator there is indeed a place for an intermediate authority like the BTRC that exercises statutory power and engages in taxable economic activity. As to the mode of collection of VAT enunciated in Section 3 and 5 of the VAT Act, 1991 which is always one of an addition of VAT to the total consideration value. Therefore, the modality of deduction under the 'Deduction at Source' scheme was equally found to be one of deduction after, and not prior to, the addition of VAT on the consideration value. Accordingly, it was held incumbent on a licensee telecommunication operator as Robi Axiata Ltd, as a recipient of taxable services supplied by BTRC, to deduct or withhold VAT at source after calculating the same on the entire consideration and thereafter pay directly in the exchequer as the deducting party (Axiata (Bangladesh) Ltd. alias Robi Axiata Ltd. vs. Govt. of Bangladesh and Others) [1 CLR (2012) HCD 77].
In October 2017, Justice Md. Salim and Ahmed ordered the government to complete the construction of the Central Effluent Treatment Plant at the Savar tannery estate within four weeks. Justice Md. Salim and Ahmed issued a two-month injunction on member of parliament Mahbubur Rahman Talukder from holding the post of chairman of 11 educational institutions in Patuakhali District.
In April 2018, Justice Md. Salim and Ahmed suspended the term extension of the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh after Smart Jeans filed an appeal after its contract was suspended by the Accord. In December 2018, Ahmed was part of a divided bench on the question of Khaleda Zia participating in the general election. He had asked the Election Commission to accept the nomination of former prime minister Khaleda Zia, while his fellow judge on the bench, Justice Iqbal Kabir, disagreed and blocked the participation of Khaleda Zia.
On 28 July 2019, High Court bench led by him banned the marketing of pasteurized milk by 14 companies. Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha on 17 December 2004 allocated a plot in the third phase of Uttara Model Town (sector 15) to Md. Miftah Uddin Choudhury. Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha cancelled the allocation, which was halted by a High Court bench of Justice Md. Iqbal Kabir and Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed, which ordered Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha to accept Choudhury's payments in August 2019. In November 2019, Justice Md. Salim and Ahmed declared the import of MT Producer for the shipbreaking industry due to the ship being contaminated with radioactive material.
On 29 January 2020, he delivered the Lex Oration Lecture titled "Digital Footprints: A Rights-Based Perspective" in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
He was appointed the chief justice of Bangladesh by the President of Bangladesh on 10 August 2024. On 11 August 2024, he was sworn in as the chief justice of Bangladesh after his nomination was proposed by student leaders of the Non-cooperation movement (2024).
Justice Ahmed delivered the keynote address at the regional conference "Achieving Just Societies: Inclusive Justice Pathways for People and Planet in Asia and the Pacific" held in Bangkok on 11 November 2024, organised by UNDP, the Thailand Institute of Justice (TIJ), UNEP, and UN Women Asia and the Pacific. Justice Ahmed delivered the main address at the Global Government Summit (Global Government Regulatory Forum) held in Dubai, UAE on 13 February 2025.