Law ministry notifies Justice Bandial's appointment as next CJP

The most senior judge of Supreme Court will take charge of his duties on February 2, replacing Justice Gulzar Ahmed

ISLAMABAD:

The Ministry of Law and Justice has formally notified the appointment of Justice Umar Ata Bandial as the next Chief Justice of Pakistan.

"In exercise of powers conferred by clause (3) of Article 175-A read with Article 177 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the President is pleased to appoint Justice Umar Ata Bandial, the most senior judge of Supreme Court, as Chief Justice of Pakistan with effect from 02.02.2022," the notification stated on Monday

It added that Justice Bandial – who will be the 28th Chief Justice of Pakistan – will take charge of his new duties on February 2. The communique further said that the notification had been issued following the approval by President Arif Alvi.

The serving CJP Justice Gulzar Ahmed is set to retire from his post on February 1, following which Justice Bandial will assume his new duties.

Justice Gulzar took oath as the top judge of the country on December 21, 2019, replacing Justice Saqib Nisar.

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Justice Bandial, 63, will take charge of the post for a span of nearly 19 months, until September 16, 2023.

Following the completion of his service tenure, the judge will be replaced by Justice Qazi Faez Isa.

A copy of the notification available with The Express Tribune

Profile

Justice Umar Ata Bandial was born on September 17, 1958 in Lahore. He received his elementary and secondary education from different schools in Kohat, Rawalpindi, Peshawar and Lahore.

He secured his BA (Economics) degree from Columbia University, US followed by a Law Tripos degree from Cambridge University, UK and qualified as Barrister-at-Law from Lincoln’s Inn, London. In 1983.

Justice Bandial attended a law seminar on International Criminal Law at Hague (2012), the Commonwealth Regional Consultative Meeting on Judicial Services Commission Model Law Kuala Lumpur (2015); and the 13th Conference of Presidents of Supreme Courts of SCO Member States at Beijing (2018).

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He taught contract law and torts law at the Punjab University Law College, Lahore until 1987 and remained a member of its Graduate Studies Committee while serving as an LHC judge.

The judge was enrolled as an Advocate of the LHC and some years later, as an Advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

In his law practice at Lahore, Justice Bandial dealt mostly with commercial, banking, tax and property matters. From 1993 until his elevation, he handled international commercial disputes. He appeared in arbitration matters before the SCP and also before international arbitral tribunals in London and Paris.

He was elevated as a judge of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on December 4, 2004. He declined oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) in November 2007 but was restored as a judge of the LHC as a result of the movement of lawyers and the civil society for the revival of the judiciary and constitutional rule in the country.

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Later, he served for two years as the chief justice LHC until his elevation as the judge of the SCP in June 2014.

During his career as a judge of the LHC and the SCP, Justice Bandial rendered judgments on a number of important public law and private law issues. These included pronouncements on civil and commercial disputes, constitutional rights and public interest matters.

In August last year, Justice Bandial took oath as the acting chief justice of Pakistan in the absence of Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed who was not in the country at the time.

It may be noted here that Justice Bandial was heading the 10-judge larger bench hearing Justice Isa's constitutional petition against presidential reference regarding his removal. The reference was quashed as mala fide on June 19. It had sought Justice Isa’s removal in view of his failure to mention his family members’ London properties in his wealth statement