Article 100 Seat of the Supreme Court
Seat of Supreme Court
Distance to Dhaka affects the cost and time of going to the High Court. Whether benches move to the divisions is a live reform question for litigants outside the capital.
In force. In July 2025 consensus talks, political parties agreed to amend Article 100 to allow permanent High Court benches in divisional headquarters; this remains a pending proposal and no amendment had been enacted as of 2026.
The Supreme Court's permanent seat is in Dhaka. Both divisions sit there, and every writ petition, appeal and other High Court matter is ordinarily filed and heard in the capital, wherever in the country the dispute arose.
A farmer in Rangpur or a trader in Chattogram who needs the High Court must usually travel to Dhaka and hire lawyers there. Travel, accommodation and repeated hearings make access to the High Court Division harder and more expensive for people outside the capital.
The Chief Justice, with the President's approval, may appoint other places where sessions of the High Court Division are held from time to time. These are sittings of the same court, not separate courts, so the Division remains one body.
In 1988 the Eighth Amendment created permanent High Court benches outside Dhaka. In 1989 the Appellate Division held that this broke up the High Court Division and violated the basic structure, so the amendment was struck down.
Reform commissions and political parties in 2025 supported permanent High Court benches in each divisional headquarters, which would require amending Article 100. Commentators note that any change must respect the Eighth Amendment ruling. The proposal remains pending.
In plain English
How Article 100 works
Article 100 says the Supreme Court's permanent home is in the capital, Dhaka. The Chief Justice may, with the President's approval, arrange for sessions of the High Court Division to be held in other places from time to time. That allows judges to travel and hear cases closer to the people, but only as sittings of the one High Court Division based in Dhaka. The article does not allow separate, permanent High Court benches in other cities. An attempt to create them in 1988 was struck down by the Appellate Division in the Eighth Amendment case.
In practice
Article 100 has been read through the Eighth Amendment case, in which the Appellate Division held that permanent benches with their own territorial jurisdiction amounted to rival High Courts and offended the basic structure. Since then the High Court Division has sat in Dhaka. After 2024, the Judiciary Reform Commission and the Constitution Reform Commission both recommended decentralisation, and in July 2025 parties in the National Consensus Commission talks agreed on permanent High Court benches in divisional headquarters, keeping the permanent seat in Dhaka. Commentators have pointed out that any amendment must survive basic structure review. As of 2026 reporting, no amendment had been enacted and the text remains unchanged.
The text
What Article 100 says
100. The permanent seat of the Supreme Court shall be in the capital, but sessions of the High Court Division may be held at such other place or places as the Chief Justice may, with the approval of the President, from time to time appoint.
English text as published on the official Laws of Bangladesh website. Where a court has changed the position, the status note above explains it.
Landmark cases
How the courts have read it
Appellate Division · 1989
Anwar Hossain Chowdhury v Bangladesh (Eighth Amendment case)
41 DLR (AD) 165; 1989 BLD (Spl) 1
Struck down the 1988 amendment that created permanent High Court benches outside Dhaka, holding that the oneness of the High Court Division and judicial independence are part of the basic structure.
Case summaries are short descriptions for orientation, not a substitute for the judgment.
History
Amendments
- Eighth Amendment 1988Provided for permanent High Court benches outside Dhaka; struck down by the Appellate Division in 1989.
- Fifteenth Amendment 2011Chapter I of Part VI (Articles 94 to 113) was substituted by section 31 of the Constitution (Fifteenth Amendment) Act, 2011, as noted on bdlaws.
Connected provisions
Related articles
Questions
Article 100: frequently asked questions
Where is the Supreme Court of Bangladesh located?
Article 100 says the permanent seat of the Supreme Court is in the capital, Dhaka. Sessions of the High Court Division may be held elsewhere if the Chief Justice appoints other places with the President's approval, but the Division remains a single court based in Dhaka.
Can there be High Court benches outside Dhaka?
Only temporary sessions are allowed under the current text. Permanent benches created by the Eighth Amendment were struck down in 1989. Parties agreed in 2025 to amend Article 100 for permanent benches in divisional headquarters, but that is a pending proposal and had not been enacted as of 2026.
Sources
- Laws of Bangladesh: Constitution, Article 100 (bdlaws section page)
- The Daily Star: Decentralising the High Court: between consensus and constitutional constraints (19 August 2025)
- Supreme Court of Bangladesh: 19 SCOB [2024] HCD 41 (citing Anwar Hossain Chowdhury v Bangladesh, 41 DLR (AD) 165)
This guide explains the Constitution for general understanding. It is not legal advice. Constitutional reform proposals under discussion in 2026 are described as proposals until enacted.
Constitutional and writ practice
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