Hossain, Justice Syed AB Mahmud

Hossain, Justice Syed AB Mahmud (1916-1982) Chief Justice of Bangladesh. He was born at village Laskarpur in Habiganj district in 1916. On completion of his educational career Syed AB Mahmud Hossain joined the Dhaka District Bar in 1940. He served for sometime as the principal of Darul Ulum Ahsania Madrasa, Dhaka. In 1942, he joined the Habiganj Sub-division Bar, and had been the assistant government pleader from 1943 to 1948.

Mahmud Hossain joined the Dhaka High Court Bar in 1948. He was enrolled as an attorney of Federal Court of Pakistan in 1951 and a senior advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 1958. He was elevated to the Bench as a Judge of the High Court of Judicature in East Pakistan in 1965.

After the emergence of Bangladesh Mahmud Hossain was appointed a judge of the High Court of Bangladesh in January 1972. He was appointed a judge of the Appellate Division of Supreme Court in December 1972. In November 1975, Mahmud Hossain was appointed the Chief Justice of Bangladesh from which office he retired in 1978.

As a Judge he had delivered many judgments making important pronouncements on the points of law. In one of his pronouncements in the case of Mahbub Hossain he declared that the employees of a statutory corporation are neither in the service of the Republic nor are to be treated under the general principle of master and servant, but their service has a public character regulated by statutory provisions, and they cannot be dismissed from service without giving them an opportunity to be heard.

Justice Mahmud Hossain translated into English and Bangla the great Persian work of Hazrat Abdul Quader Jilani titled Diwan-e-Gausia. Justice Mahmud died on 2 August 1982. [Kazi Ebadul Hoque]