Court diary: Malik to be sworn in as LHC chief justice today

Court sought AGP’s assistance in light of Supreme Court’s orders on local govt polls.

LAHORE: Justice Manzoor Ahmad Malik will take oath as the 43rd chief justice of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday (today) after Justice Khawaja Imtiaz Ahmad retired on Sunday.

Justice Malik was elevated as an LHC judge on September 15, 2009. He started his practice as an advocate of the LHC in 1989 and at the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 2001. His area of practice was mainly criminal law.

In 2005, Justice Malik founded the Free Legal Aid Society for Helpless (FLASH) and was its elected president till his elevation. He was the Lahore High Court Bar Association election board’s chairman for five years, from 2005 to 2009. He has been a member of the administration committee of the Lahore High Court since 2011; an administrative judge of the Anti-Terrorism and Banking Courts in the Punjab and the Environmental Tribunal since 2012.

Justice Malik also participated in several national and international judicial conferences including training in international law. He attended the Meeting International Human Rights Standards in Criminal Proceedings in Netherlands (Holland) organised by the Asia Foundation, and The Hague Forum for Judicial Expertise (April, 2012). He visited the UK to discuss witness protection plans and court security in terrorism cases.

Justice Malik will retire on April 30, 2018.

Jamaatud Dawa leader

Last week, a single bench of the LHC directed the Punjab home secretary to decide Jamatud Dawa leader Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi’s application, challenging his detention, in five days.

The court issued the order on Lakhvi’s petition seeking directions to the home secretary to decide the application. On March 20, the LHC dismissed Lakhvi’s petition challenging his detention and directed him to approach the home secretary first.

Local govt polls in cantonments

The LHC directed the attorney general of Pakistan to assist the court in light of a Supreme Court order on petitions seeking new delimitations and party-based local government polls in the cantonments.

The judge said from April 3 onwards, proceedings on these petitions will be held daily. On Thursday, the court was told that both issues were pending before the Supreme Court.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Lahore Cantonment president Awais Younas had filed the petitions. He said on the Supreme Court’s orders, the Election Commission of Pakistan had announced local government polls for 42 cantonments in the country. He said that the local government elections, scheduled for April 25, were to be held on non-party basis. He requested the court to direct the ECP to hold polls on party basis.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 30^th, 2015.