ISLAMABAD: Three jud­ges of the Supreme Court as well as the chief justice of Islamabad High Court (IHC) were administered the oath of their offices at separate ceremonies on Friday.

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial administered the oath to Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Shahid Waheed and Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi as the judges of the Supreme Court.

The elevation of the three judges to the apex court was approved by President Dr Arif Alvi a couple of days ago.

The oath-taking cerem­ony, held at the Supreme Court building, was atten­ded by Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training Rana Tanveer Hussain, Senator Saleem Mandviwalla, senior judges, high-ranking government officials, members of the legal fraternity and eminent members of civil society.

At the other ceremony held at Aiwan-i-Sadr, Just­ice Aamer Farooq became the sixth chief justice of IHC when he took the oath of his office.

President Alvi administe­red the oath to Justice Farooq.

The president had appro­ved the appointment of Jus­tice Farooq, senior puisne judge, under Article 175A(13) of the Constitution.

The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP), headed by CJP Bandial, had on Oct 28 unanimously recommended the nomination of Justice Farooq as the IHC’s chief justice.

Earlier on Oct 24, the JCP had recommended the elevation of Justice Minallah, Justice Waheed and Justice Rizvi to the Supreme Court.

Justice Farooq was sworn in as an additional judge of IHC on Jan 1, 2015 and on the recommendation of JCP he was confirmed as judge of the high court on Dec 23, 2015.

During his seven-year stint in IHC, he decided over 10,000 cases at the single bench and about 5,000 in the division bench.

He authored several landmark judgements in criminal, civil and corporate matters. He struck down arbitrary powers of Central Selection Board and issued guidelines for operating private schools in the federal capital.

Justice Farooq headed the division bench which granted eight weeks’ bail to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif by suspending his sentence in the Al-Azizia reference and then declared the PML-N supremo proclaimed offender in the same case because of his absconsion.

Recently, this bench acquitted PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz by setting aside her conviction in the Avenfield Apartments reference.

At present, important cases pending before him included the appeal filed by the National Accountability Bureau against the acquittal of Nawaz Sharif in the Flagship Investment reference, the PTI’s petition against the ECP’s report on prohibited funding and an appeal filed by PTI Chairman Imran Khan against his disqualification in the Toshakhana case.

Published in Dawn, November 12th, 2022