Justice and Former President Shahabuddin Ahmed

On the resignation of President Lt. General (Retd.) H. M. Ershad on 6 December 1990, the Chief Justice of the SC of Bangladesh who was appointed Vice President earlier on the day took over as the Acting President of the country. Justice Shahabuddin was heading an interim government as a nominee of the major opposition alliances to hold a free, fair and neutral election to Parliament. President Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed administered the oath of office to his Council of Advisors at Bangabhaban on 9 December 1990 and held the first meeting on 15 December 1990. After the fifth JS elections held on 27 February 1991, and the swearing in of the new President on 9 October 1991, Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed returned to his original post as the Chief Justice of the SC of Bangladesh. He retired on 1 February 1995. 

On 23 July 1996, he was elected the President of the country unopposed, and took oath of office on 9 October 1996. Chief Justice of the SC, Justice A. T. M. Afzal, administered the oath of office to the President-elect at the Durbar Hall of Bangabhaban. The change over from Abdur Rahman Biswas (the first President to complete the term of his office) to Justice Shahabuddin was the first formal change of Presidency in the history of Bangladesh. Though Justice Shahabuddin's term of office expired on 8 October 2001, he had to continue as President (under the safeguard clause of Article 50 (1) of the Constitution) till Professor Dr. A. Q. M. Badruddoza Chowdhury was elected President of the Republic on 14 November 2001.

Shahabuddin Ahmed was born in 1930 in village Pemai of Kendua upazila in the district of Netrokona. His father Talukder Risat Ahmed Bhuiyan was a renowned social worker and philanthropist. Shahabuddin Ahmed obtained B. A. (Honours) in Economics in 1951 and M. A. in International Relations in 1952 from DU. He joined the Civil Service of Pakistan in 1954, and was transferred to the judicial branch in 1960. Shahabuddin Ahmed served as District and Sessions Judge of Comilla and Chittagong. He became Registrar of the HC of EP in 1967. He was elevated to the Bench of the HC on 20 January 1972. He also acted on deputation at the Labour Appellate Tribunal for two years, 1973 and 1974. Justice Shahabuddin was appointed a Judge of the Appellate Division of the SC of Bangladesh on 7 February 1980 and was confirmed on 15 April 1981. He was Chairman, Bangladesh Red Cross Society, from August 1978 to April 1982 in addition to his own duties. Justice Shahabuddin was Chairman of the National Pay Commission in 1984. He was appointed the Chief Justice of the SC on 14 January 1990.

Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed discharged the responsibilities entrusted upon him conscientiously, and earned the respect of the nation as a hard- working, cool, composed and a disciplined person. During his tenure as Acting President, a devastating cyclone hit Chittagong-Cox's Bazar regions on the midnight of 29 & 30 April 1991. The storm killed at least one hundred and thirty eight thousand persons. The cyclone also heavily damaged fighter planes of the Bangladesh Air Force and immobilized or sunk all the major ships of the Navy. This led the Acting President and the supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed to retire the Chief of Air Staff, Bangladesh Air Force, Air Vice Marshall Mumtazuddin Ahmed and Rear Admiral Amir Ahmed Mustafa, Chief of Naval Staff, Bangladesh Navy from services with effect from 4 June 1991.

Justice Shahabuddin is married to Anowara Begum and is the father of two sons and three daughters.