Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha will leave for Canada tonight to see his ailing daughter.

He would then travel to Japan on September 17 to attend a conference of chief justices of Asia and the Pacific, Mohammad Anisur Rahman, personal secretary to the CJ, told The Daily Star today.

The chief justice of Japan has invited Justice Sinha to attend the conference slated for September 18 to September 22, Anisur mentioned.

The chief justice will return home on September 23, he said, adding that Justice Md Abdul Wahhab Miah, a senior judge of the Appellate Division, will discharge the duties of chief justice in this time.

The law ministry on September 6, issued a gazette saying that under Article 97 of the constitution, the president gave responsibility of the chief justice to Justice Md Abdul Wahhab Miah in absence of Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha during the period of his (Sinha) absence.