LAHORE: Khawaja Muhammad Sharif, the Lahore High Court (LHC) chief justice, retired on Wednesday after attaining the age of superannuation.
A full court reference was held in his honour. All the judges of the LHC attended the reference, which was organised for the first time since 2000.
Punjab Bar Council vice chairman, Mumtaz Mustafa; Advocate General, Khawaja Haris and the presidents of the Lahore High Court Bar Association and bars of LHC circuit benches were also present on the occasion. All of them paid tribute to Justice Sharif for rendering, what they said were, relentless services as a judge.
Earlier Justice Sharif, recounted in his farewell address, the “many ups and downs” that he had seen during his tenure as judge and a chief justice. “The LHC
faced a crisis after the Supreme Court gave a historical judgment on July 31, 2009. The number of the LHC judges was reduced to six. However, with the help of my fellow judges I was able to ensure that justice never closed its doors on litigants,” an emotional Sharif said.
He also mentioned the lawyers’ movement to remove the former sessions judge Zawar Ahmad Sheikh. “Though the torture on lawyers was condemnable, some of my friends tarnished the sanctity attached to the post of a chief justice,” said the former chief justice.
Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry, the new chief justice, said that Justice Sharif had always impressed him with his hard work. “Justice Sharif always sought advice from his fellow judges before taking any administrative decision” Justice Chaudhry said.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 9th, 2010.
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