LAHORE: Justice Shahid Jamil Khan of the Lahore High Court, eleventh in seniority, called it a day on Friday almost four years before his superannuation as, what insiders claim, noncompliance of his orders in matters of public importance especially and the apathy of the senior judicial hierarchy made him frustrated.

“It was an absolute honour to hold the office, but for personal circumstances I have decided to turn the page and start a new chapter,” Justice Khan penned in his resignation addressed to the president.

In his resignation, he also wrote a few revolutionary couplets of national poet Allama Iqbal and an English proverb,“An ounce of discretion is worth a pound of wit.”

With expertise in the tax law, he was co-owner with PML-N leader Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan of a law firm -- Rana, Khan & Partners -- when elevated to the bench on March 22, 2014.

He was unlikely to become the chief justice of the LHC as his superannuate was due on April 29, 2028 at the age of 62.

His imminent resignation had become a common gossip in the legal circles since he shared his resolve with some close friends, including lawyers and journalists near September last year.

A lawyer told Dawn that Justice Khan had started feeling frustrated by the suspension of his orders on the government’s appeals by the division benches of the LHC. He said in a number of cases the government delayed the implementation of the decisions delivered by the judge and got them suspended by the higher benches.

In one such decision, Justice Khan in January last year working at the LHC Multan seat set aside the appointment of the administrators in Punjab, all new development projects initiated by them and the allocation of funds to the members of the national and provincial assemblies.

The judge had also ordered the Election Commission of Pakistan to hold the local government polls forthwith, on completion of delimitation as scheduled, in the province.

However, a division bench suspended the decision on an appeal by the respondents.

In another decision, Justice Khan ordered the caretaker Punjab government to nominate amongst lastly elected representatives of the local governments for the establishment of Public Safety Commissions as envisaged under the Police Order 2002.

His other decisions include an order to the caretaker government to public details of all projects sanctioned by it and the previous elected government and a direction to make rules to regulate private housing schemes.

Justice Khan had also taken notice of the absence of a mechanism to control prices of essential commodities especially sugar, flour and ghee in the fasting month of Ramzan in particular.

In December, the judge had set aside the appointments of chairman and the members of the Appellate Tribunal Inland Revenue (ATIR). The decision was overturned by a division bench.

He also ordered the PMDC to ensure that all the medical and dental colleges publicly declare fee/charges at the time of admission to curb exploitation of the students.

He was a member of a larger bench that heard appeals by the PTI and ordered recounting of votes cast in the election of then chief minister Hamza Shehbaz after excluding 25 votes of the defecting MPAs.

Justice Khan was on leave for over a month and had been working in the chamber to author pending judgements.

An LHC official claimed that Justice Khan was not enjoying good relations with Chief Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti. He said a senior judge of the Supreme Court had recently requested Justice Khan to change his decision with a promise to address his grievances soon. The judge had given a second thought to his decision but later returned to his resolve, he added.

After the resignation of Justice Khan, the LHC is left with 39 judges against the constitutional strength of 60.

Published in Dawn, February 3rd, 2024