Oath of office: Bandial sworn in as the chief justice

LAHORE:

Justice Umar Ata Bandial took oath on Friday as the 41st Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice (CJ) at a ceremony at the Governor’s House.

Governor Sardar Latif Khan Khosa administered the oath to Justice Bandial. The ceremony was attended by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Punjab Assembly’s speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal and law minister Rana Sanaullah.

A guard of honour was presented to the CJ on his arrival at the high court. Addressing judges, Justice Bandial said, “I am senior amongst equals. I seek suggestions from other judges on how to improve the province’s judicial hierarchy.” He said that judges needed to write comprehensive judgments to reduce the number of appeals. “The case backlog can be reduced by reducing the number of appeals that reach higher forums of law,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 2^nd, 2012.