Supreme Court judge MM Ruhul Amin was sworn into office as new chief justice Sunday by president Iajuddin Ahmed.

Chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed and army chief General Moeen U Ahmed were present at the swearing-in ceremony at the Bangabhaban at 10.30am.

The Supreme Court Bar Association broke with its tradition of welcoming the new chief justice and bidding a farewell to the outgoing one in a ceremony this year.

SCBA president Barrister Shafiq Ahmed told bdnews24.com that the association had taken the decision not to hold a reception or farewell ceremony to protest some Appellate Division verdicts including the one that prevents courts from granting bail in EPR cases.

The president finalised justice Amin's appointment as the country's 16th chief justice on May 25.

Justice Amin was working as chairman of the Judicial Service Commission from 2004.

The new chief justice obtained a masters' degree in history in 1963 and a LLB degree in 1966 from Dhaka University. In 1967, he started work as assistant judge in the erstwhile East Pakistan.

Amin was promoted to district judge in 1984. Before being appointed as High Court judge on Feb 10, 1994, he served courts in Chittagong, Cox's Bazar, Kishoreganj and Jessore as district judge.

In 1990, Amin took training in "case management" at National Judicial College in the US and visited several US courts to learn about alternative dispute resolution and court administration.

Besides, he visited Sri Lank, India and Nepal to see their judicial services and salary structure of judges.