BAHAWALPUR, Feb 9: The district has the honour of having major representation of judges in the Supreme Court and the Lahore High Court for the first time, with five of the 15 judges appointed under Provisional Constitution Order belonging to this part of Punjab.

Those appointed from Bahawalpur include two brothers-in-law -– Justice Muhammad Farrukh Mahmood Malik and Justice Malik Saeed.

Justice Sheikh Hakim Ali and Justice Farrukh Malik sworn in as judges of the apex court the other day and Justice Akhtar Shabbir was already working as a Supreme Court judge in Islamabad. Justice Malik Saeed Ijaz and Justice Shaheen Masood Rizvi were inducted in the LHC as they took oath in Lahore on Saturday.

Justice Sheikh Hakim Ali was a regular judge of the LHC and he took oath under PCO after Nov 3. He belongs to Uch Sharif and had been practicing here throughout his legal career. He had been president of both Bahawalpur district and high court bar associations before his appointment as an additional judge of LHC in 2002. He was later made a permanent judge of LHC, from where he was to retire in August 2008. He was elevated to the Supreme Court judge slot on Friday.

Justice Farrukh Malik retired as a LHC judge in June 2007 and has now sworn in as an apex court judge on Friday. During his tenure as a LHC judge, he mainly heard murder cases and was considered an authority on criminal cases.

Justice Akhtar also hails from Bahawalpur and was tipped as a LHC judge during the tenure of former LHC CJ Mian Allah Nawaz Khan. After his retirement from the LHC in April 2007, Justice Akhtar (retired) was appointed a member of Punjab Public Service Commission and after Nov 3, was elevated to the judge of Supreme Court.

The new judges inducted in the LHC on Saturday included Justice Malik Saeed Ijaz and Justice Shaheen Masood Rizvi. Justice Malik Saeed is a sitting president of the Bahawalpur High Court Bar Association. He had twice won the high court bar election. The other judge, Justice Shaheen Masood Rizvi was AAG here.

Earlier, too, he had been working in this position in LHC’s Bahawalpur Bench. He is a close relative of Syed Tasneem Nawaz Gardezi, an ex-MNA allying with the PML-Q and a former federal minister.

It may be recalled that after the merger of defunct State of Bahawalpur into the then West Pakistan, the late Justice Rana Munawar Elahi, the late Justice Munir Ahmad Khan, Justice Riazuddin, Justice Allah Nawaz Khan (LHC chief justice), Justice Muhammad Hassan Sindhar (retired), Justice Muhammad Sharif (retired) and Justice Muhammad Naseem (retired) had served the apex court from Bahawalpur.