BIOGRAPHY
Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh, Barrister-at-Law, is the Mayor of Dhaka South City Corporation. He was born on the 19th of November 1971 and is married with two sons.
He is the younger of two sons of Late Sheikh Fazlul Haque Moni (who was a great Freedom Fighter, journalist and politician) and Late Shamsunnessa Arju Moni, who were assassinated along with the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, on 15th August, 1975.
He completed his LL.B (Honours) with Upper Second Class from the University of Wolverhampton, U.K. in 1996 and then completed his Bar Final Course under the General Council of the Bar of England and Wales in 1997. He is a Member of the Honorable Society of Lincoln’s Inn, U.K. He was also a Member of the Bangladesh Bar Council and had practised in the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh since 2001 and was enrolled as an Advocate in the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh on 24th August, 2010.
He was the lead Counsel to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and had successfully defended her in all her cases. He was also the Counsel in the ‘Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Murder Case’ before the High Court Division and the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh. He specialized in Constitutional Law (Law of Judicial Review), Commercial Litigation and Arbitration, General Corporate Practice, Banking & Insurance Law, Energy, Power, Mining and Mineral Resources, Telecommunication, Real Estate, Mergers & Acquisitions, Law of Intellectual Property and also Criminal Law. He was a Member of the International Bar Association (IBA) and being a Member of the Mining Law Committee and War Crimes Committee of the IBA attended the IBA Annual Conference 2012 held in Dublin, Ireland. He worked as Local Legal Counsel in various projects funded by the World Bank, Department for International Development of UK (DFID), Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Japan Bank of International Co-operation (JBIC) and was one of the eminent Lawyers who were called by the ‘Special Committee on Amendment of the Constitution of Bangladesh’ for opinion on constitutional reforms and amendment of the Constitution of Bangladesh.
He has been designated by Bangladesh as a Panel Member of the International Centre For Settlement Of Investment Disputes (ICSID) Panels of Conciliators and of Arbitrators. He was appointed as an Arbitrator in many commercial disputes.
During 1998 to 2001, he became the Printer and Publisher of the renowned daily Bengali newspaper, named the ‘Daily Banglar Bani’, which was founded by his father during the War of Liberation. He is the Editor of the first monthly English law magazine of Bangladesh, named ‘Bangladesh Legal Times’.
In the 9th General Election to Bangladesh National Parliament held on 29th December 2008, he contested with the nomination of the Bangladesh Awami League from the National Election Area-185 (Dhaka-12) constituency and was elected as a Member of Parliament. Subsequently, on 5th January 2014 he was re-elected as a Member of Parliament from the same constituency (renumbered as 183, Dhaka-10) for a second term in the 10th National Parliament. He was further re-elected for a third term as a Member of Parliament from the same constituency in the 11th National Parliament on 30th December 2018.
In his first term as a Member of Parliament, he was a Member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee for the Ministry for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources and the Ministry for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs. In his second term, he was a Member of the Standing Committee for the Ministry for Food and the Committee on Estimates. In the 11th National Parliament, he became the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Private Members’ Bills and Private Members’ Resolutions and was also a Member of the Standing Committee for the Ministry for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs and the Committee on Estimates.
He is a signatory to the Constitution (Fifteenth Amendment) Act 2011 and the Constitution (Sixteenth Amendment) Act 2015.
In the Dhaka South City Corporation Mayor Election 2020 held on 1st February 2020, he contested with the nomination of the Bangladesh Awami League and was elected as the Mayor of Dhaka South City Corporation.
He attended the United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC), LDCs Group of 77 Meetings held from the 7th to 18th December 2009, in Copenhagen, Denmark, as a Member of the Delegation of the Government of Bangladesh. He took part in the World Bank Group Energy Strategy Consultations held on April 18, 2010. He also took part as an International Observer in the UK General Election 2010 from Bangladesh invited by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, UK Branch, and the Royal Commonwealth Society, UK, from the 2nd May, 2010 till 9th May, 2010. On the invitation of the Improved Capacity For Energy Access (ICEA), a USAID funded project, he participated in the July 2010 Energy Regulatory Commission Study Tour involving government related energy entities in the United States of America. He also visited Japan in 2011 from the 22nd February to 1st March on the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of Japan under its official invitation program. From 17th to 19th May 2016, he participated as a Delegate from Bangladesh Parliament in the RSIS-WTO Parliamentarian Workshop 2016 in Singapore organized jointly by the Temasek Foundation of Singapore, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) of Singapore and the World Trade Organization. He also attended the Annual 2016 Session of the Parliamentary Conference on the World Trade Organization (WTO) on 13-14 June 2016 held in Geneva, Switzerland, as Parliamentary Delegation from Bangladesh.
He was a Member of the Senate of the Dhaka University for about ten years.
His favourite political personalities include George Washington (Father of the Nation of USA), Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Karamchand Gandhi (Father of the Nation of India), Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (Father of the Nation of Bangladesh), Nelson Mandela and Lee Kuan Yew (Father of the Nation of Singapore). He reads books (especially biographies of great political leaders) and likes to watch movies. Football (soccer) is his favourite sport.