Who is Kazi Habibul Awal?

The government on Saturday appointed Kazi Habibul Awal as the 13th Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of Bangladesh.

Habibul Awal joined the Ministry of Defence as secretary on March 3, 2014. Then he was appointed as senior secretary in the same Ministry on December 1, 2014. He retired on January 20, 2015. He was then reappointed as senior secretary in Ministry of Defence on January 21, 2015. He retired on December 31, 2016.

He is responsible as Chief Executive Officer, for the overall administration and management of the ministry as well as departments and organisations under the ministry. Defence Services are the principal organizations. Apart from those, there are many other allied inter-services and civilian organizations under the administrative control of the Ministry of Defence.

Habibul Awal was born on January 21, 1956. He received LLB (Hons) in 1976 and LLM in 1978 from Dhaka University. He obtained Certificate of Enrolment as an advocate from Bangladesh Bar Council in 1980 and became member of Dhaka District Bar Association. He appeared in the Bangladesh Civil Service (Judicial) Competitive Examination of 1981 conducted by the Public Service Commission and qualified for appointment in the judicial Service. He joined as an assistant judge in 1981. He was regularly promoted to the next higher positions of the service and was finally promoted to the post of District and Sessions Judge in 1997. He also worked as Secretary, Bangladesh Law Commission, Chairman, Labour Court and Project Director of Bangladesh Legal and Judicial Capacity Building Project. 

Habibul Awal also worked on deputation in the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs as Assistant Secretary and Deputy Secretary. He was appointed as joint secretary in the Legislative Drafting Wing of the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs in December 2000. He was appointed additional secretary in the Ministry of Law in 2004.  Thereafter he was appointed as secretary, Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs on June 28, 2007, and served in that position up to December 17, 2009. He was appointed as secretary in the Ministry of Religious Affairs on April 24, 2010, and served in that position before joining the Ministry of Defence.

During his 34-year service career, Habibul Awal attended a six-month long international training course on Legal and Legislative Drafting held in Harare, Zimbabwe in 1986 financed by the Commonwealth Secretariat, London, UK. He attended various international workshops, seminars and conferences in the USA, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Pakistan, Germany, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, New Zealand, Nepal, Canada, UK, Japan, France, Norway, Sweden, Ghana, South Korea, Philippines, Hong Kong.