ISLAMABAD: President Mamnoon Hussain approved on Wednesday the appointment of Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja as new Chief Justice of Pakistan.

Justice Khawaja will assume the charge of his office on Aug 17 after the retirement of Chief Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk a day earlier.

Justice Khawaja will serve as chief justice for only 24 days as he is also due to retire on Sept 10.

An announcement issued by the presidency said: “On a summary initiated by Law, Justice and Human Rights Division, the president has approved the prime minister’s advice for appointment of senior most judge of the Supreme Court Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja as Chief Justice of Pakistan with effect from Aug 17, 2015, after superannuation of Mr Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk, Chief Justice of Pakistan, on attaining the age of 65 years with effect from Aug 16, 2015.”

Upon retirement of Justice Khawaja, Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali will be senior most judge of the Supreme Court.

According to information available at the Supreme Court’s website, Justice Khawaja was born on Sept 10, 1950, at Wazirabad, district Gujranwala. He did his graduation in arts in 1971 from FC College, Lahore, and LL.B in 1973 from the Punjab University Law College, Lahore.

He then obtained a Masters (LL.M) degree from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1975. He was enrolled as advocate of the high court in 1975 and as advocate of the Supreme Court in 1985. He continued legal practice until his appointment as a judge of the Lahore High Court on April 21, 1999.

Justice Khawaja resigned his constitutional tenure on March 19, 2007. He then served as professor of law at the Lahore University of Management Sciences and headed the department of law and policy there until his appointment as judge of the Supreme Court on June 5, 2009.

Published in Dawn, August 6th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play