Amin Ahmed NPk, MBE (; 1 October 1899 – 5 December 1991) was a jurist and chief justice of the Dacca High Court during the Pakistan era.

Early life and education

Amin Ahmed was born on 1 October 1899 in the village of Ahmadpur in

Sonagazi Sonagazi () is an upazila (sub-district) of Feni District in Chittagong Division, Bangladesh, located on the coast of the Bay of Bengal. At the 2022 census, its population was 290,000, making it the second most populous upazila in Feni District. ...

, Feni, then part of the

Noakhali district Noakhali District (), historically known as Bhulua (), is a Districts of Bangladesh, district in southeastern Bangladesh, located in Chattogram Division. It was established as a district in 1821, and officially named Noakhali in 1868. The distr ...

of the

Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal until 1937, later the Bengal Province, was the largest of all three presidencies of British India during Company rule in India, Company rule and later a Provinces o ...

. His father, Abdul Aziz, was a civil servant. In 1913, he graduated from Chittagong Municipal High School. He has a B.A. in economics from Presidency College, Calcutta. He then completed a master's degree in economics. He completed another B.A. in economics and a Bachelor of Laws from

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. He was then called to the

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

and in 1924 became a Barrister-at-Law.

Career

Amin joined the Calcutta High Court bar after returning from London. He then joined Calcutta University Law College as a professor of law. He was appointed temporary judge of the Presidency Small Causes Court in 1929. His position was made permanent in 1932 and also worked as Kolkata's Chief Rent and Rate Controller of the Premises and Hotels. In 1947, he was appointed a Judge in the Calcutta High Court. After the Partition of India, Amin joined the Dhaka High Court and would be chief justice of Dhaka High Court in 1954. He retired in 1959. He served as the President of the Muslim Marriage Registrars’ Association, Bengal Veternarary College Committee, and Dhaka Club. Amin was awarded the title of

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) by the

British Government of India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

, and

Hilal-e-Pakistan Hilal-e-Pakistan () is the second-highest Civil decorations of Pakistan, civil award (in the hierarchy of "Hilale") of the Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The award seeks to recognize those people who have made "meritorious contribution ...

(Crescent of Pakistan) by the

Pakistan Government The Government of Pakistan () (abbreviated as GoP), constitutionally known as the Federal Government, commonly known as the Centre, is the national authority of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, a federal republic located in South Asia, cons ...

for his meritorious services.

Writings

Amin Ahmed delivered the Kamini Kumar Memorial Law lecture on the topic ''Judicial Review of Administrative Action in Pakistan'' which was held in

University of Dhaka The University of Dhaka (), also known as Dhaka University (DU), is a public university, public research university located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Established in 1921, it is the oldest active university in the country. The University of Dhaka w ...

on 9–11 February 1970. Later the lecture was published as a book. He wrote an autobiography; titled ''A Peep into the Past''. He gave the inaugural speech at the Pakistan Philosophical Congress in 1954. Ahmed also gave speech on various occasions like the Annual Dinner of the Chittagong District Bar Association in 1964, the inaugural ceremony of the New Dacca High Court Building on 24 March 1968 and the Bar Dinner at Hotel Intercontinental, Dacca on 19 January 1974. He addressed as president, Pakistan United Nations Association (East Zone, Dacca) on the occasion of its silver jubilee in 1970.

Personal life

He had 6 daughters (Shameem, Nessima Hakim, Uzra Husain, Nazneen, Najma, Jarina Mohsin) and one son, Aziz Ahmed. His second daughter, Nessima, was married to Justice Maksum-ul-Hakim, Justice of Bangladesh Supreme Court. He was the father-in-law of Bangladeshi diplomat Tabarak Husain, who married his daughter Uzra Husain. His grandchild, Tariq ul Hakim, is also a Dhaka High Court justice.

Death and legacy

He died in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

on 5 December 1991. Chief Justice of Bangladesh Surendra Kumar Sinha told judges to follow the example of Amin Ahmed on his 25th death anniversary in 2016. The Justice Amin Ahmed Gold Medal is given by Justice Amin Ahmed Trust.

References

External links

Author
page, at

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc., doing business as Amazon, is an American multinational technology company engaged in e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. Founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos in Bellevu ...

Autobiography
of Former Chief Justice Amin Ahmed in

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical charac ...

Charity clinic
in his

Dhanmondi Dhanmondi () is an upscale residential and commercial neighbourhood and a Thanas of Bangladesh, thana (police jurisdiction) in Dhaka, Bangladesh, known for its central location, cultural vibrancy and being home to the country's founding president, ...

's residence {{DEFAULTSORT:Ahmed, Amin 1899 births 1991 deaths Presidency University, Kolkata alumni Alumni of the University of Cambridge Academic staff of the University of Calcutta Members of the Order of the British Empire 20th-century Pakistani judges People from Sonagazi Upazila Justices of the Supreme Court of Pakistan People of East Pakistan Recipients of Hilal-i-Pakistan