LAHORE: Justice Sardar Muhammad Shamim Khan on Tuesday took oath as the 48th chief justice of the Lahore High Court (LHC) in a ceremony at Governor House.

Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar administered the oath to the chief justice, while Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar, Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, judges of the LHC, federal and provincial law officers and senior lawyers attended the ceremony.

After assuming his office, Chief Justice Khan issued transfer and posting orders for the district and sessions judges (D&SJ) of the province. LHC Registrar Shakeel Ahmad was transferred and replaced with District and Sessions Judge Chaudhry Humayun Imtiaz.

Through another notification issued by the registrar, District Judiciary Director General Bushra Zaman was also asked to report to the authority for further posting, while D&SJ Ashtar Abbas was transferred from Banking Court-IV Lahore and posted as the district judiciary director general.

The LHC also appointed Muhammad Khalid Nawaz as D&SJ of Lahore in place of Munir Ahmad, who was transferred to Sheikhupura. Moreover, 34 other D&SJs were also shuffled.

INCREMENTS: Some LHC officials are reportedly feeling dejected after former chief justice Anwarul Haq approved grant of two advance increments for the staff of his court only just two days before his retirement.

A notification states, “The Hon’ble Chief Justice has been pleased to grant two advance increments to the following officers/officials of this Court with immediate effect, in token of exceptional services rendered by them.”

The officials granted the advance increments included Additional Registrar/Secretary to CJ Muhammad Nasir, Additional Registrar Syed Faizul Hassan, Senior Additional Registrar (Court) Fazal Karim, Private Secretary-II Kashif Rehman, Personal Assistant-I Saeed Akhtar, Additional Registrar (CS) Rana Zahid Bashir, Senior Court Associate Waheed Yaqoob and 10 others.

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2019