PESHAWAR, Feb 3: President Asif Zardari has accepted the resignation of the Peshawar High Court's senior most judge, Shahjehan Khan Yousafzai, who stepped down in protest after being superseded twice during appointment as the high court chief justice.

The judge's family sources told Dawn on Friday that Justice Shahjehan had received a notification from the law and justice division which stated that the president had accepted his resignation with effect from January 30 and that he would be entitled to all benefits as the high court's retired judge.

Justice Shahjehan had resigned on November 17, 2011, after the then chief justice, Ejaz Afzal Khan, was elevated to the Supreme Court and Justice Dost Mohammad Khan was appointed his successor.

In the letter of resignation, he had stated that he was the senior most PHC judge and tenure wise, spread over a period of around 15 years, he was senior to all judges and chief justices of the three other provincial high courts, Islamabad High Court and Azad Jammu and Kashmir High Court, but despite that he was neither elevated to the Supreme Court nor was he appointed the chief justice.

In the letter, he stated that the Judicial Commission and the Parliamentary Committee for appointment of judges infringed upon his right of elevation when ignored him as judge of the Supreme Court or chief justice of PHC.

"In doing so, they violated the right of equal and fair treatment enshrined in the Constitution," he stated.

Justice Shahjehan was appointed additional judge of the high court on February 1, 1997, and after a year, he was confirmed as a judge of the high court. Prior to his elevation, he was the member of the PHC Bar Association and had also served as the additional advocate general.

He stated that without assigning any reason he was superseded and Justice Ejaz Afzal was appointed as the PHC chief justice on October 20, 2009, by the president in consultation with Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

The judge said after that injustice was meted out, he had sent a letter to the law and justice division seeking the reason for why he was superseded but so far no reply was given to him.