Judicial Commission names new LHC chief justice

Judici­al Commis­sion nominates Justic­e Ejaz Ahmed Chaudh­ry as successor to current Justice Khwaja Sharif

ISLAMABAD:

The Judicial Commission of Pakistan unanimously nominated on Saturday Justice Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmad as the new chief justice of the Lahore High Court.

The commission’s in-camera session, held in the Supreme Court building under the chairmanship of Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, lasted half an hour. The meeting’s main agenda was to propose the name of the new chief justice of the LHC after the retirement of Justice Khwaja Sharif on December 14. Justice Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmed was on top of the LHC’s seniority list.

In accordance with the 18th Amendment, the Parliamentary Committee will give the final approval for Justice Ijaz Ahmed’s appointment, but the eight-member committee is yet to be constituted.

After the approval of the parliamentary committee, the summary of Justice Ijaz’s appointment will be sent to President Zardari and the final notification will be issued after the approval of the president.

This was the commission’s second meeting. In the previous meeting, the commission had unanimously adopted the draft National Judicial Commission of Pakistan Rules of 2010.

The first session of the Judicial Commission to initiate the process of filling actual and anticipated vacancies in the superior judiciary was held in Islamabad last week.

The meeting was attended by Justice Javed Iqbal, Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, law minster Babar Awan, Attorney General Maulvi Anwar-ul-Haq, Justice (retd) Chaudhry Ijaz, representatives of Pakistan Bar Council and Punjab Bar Council, chief justices of high courts and Rana Sannaullah, provincial minister for law.

In case recommendations of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) are finalised by the parliamentary commission on judges, Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry of the Lahore High Court will serve as the new LHC chief justice from December 9 this year.

Incumbent Chief Justice Khwaja Muhammad Sharif will retire on December 14.

Justice Chaudhry is among judges who were deposed by former military ruler Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf for refusing oath under Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) promulgated on Nov 3, 2007.

He was elevated as an LHC judge on May 2, 2001, when he was working as an additional advocate-general in Punjab. He has also served as an assistant advocate-general and a special prosecutor.

He was enrolled as advocate in year 1975 and as high court and Supreme Court lawyer in 1977 and 1992, respectively.

He was born on December 12, 1950, in Jabbal village of Shakargarh tehsil. His father’s name is Chaudhry Abdul Aziz.

Since his restoration, Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry has been giving a number of bold verdicts in public and national interest cases. He had slapped a ban on ‘Facebook’, a social network website, for holding a contest of drawing blasphemous caricature of Holy Prophet (pbuh).

Eminent scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan also got relief from the court of Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry against his free movement was allegedly restricted by federal government.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 14th, 2010.