Chief Justice of Pakistan
منصف اعظم پاکستان – Mansaf-e-Āzam | |
---|---|
Incumbent Gulzar Ahmed since 21 December 2019 | |
Supreme Court of Pakistan | |
Style | The Honorable (formal) Your Lordship (within court) Mr. Chief Justice (informal) |
Status | Chief justice |
Seat | Supreme Court of Pakistan Building, Islamabad, and Lahore |
Nominator | Prime Minister of Pakistan |
Appointer | President of Pakistan |
Term length | Variable Until the age of 65 |
Constituting instrument | Constitution of Pakistan |
Formation | 27 June 1949 |
First holder | Abdul Rashid (as Federal Chief Justice) |
The chief justice of Pakistan (Urdu: منصف اعظم پاکستان) (initials as CJP) is the head of the court system of Pakistan (the judicature branch of government) and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.[1] The officeholder is the senior most of 17 senior justices of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.[2]
The Federal Court of Pakistan was established by Governor-General Jinnah's Order in February 1948. Until 1956, the chief justice and senior justices were known by the title of 'Federal Judge', and the Federal Court of Pakistan operated out of a wing of the Lahore High Court, despite the federal capital's location in Karachi. The enactment of Pakistan's first constitution in March 1956 redesigned it as the 'Supreme Court of Pakistan.' [3]
The chief justice is the chief administrative officer of the country's court system and the highest judicial officer, ranking immediately above the chief justice of the Federal Shariat Court, and is responsible for supervising federal judicial policies, and conducting judicial business in the Supreme Court.[4][5]
Nomination for the appointment of the chief justice is made by the prime minister of Pakistan, and final appointments are confirmed by the president of Pakistan.[6][7] Presiding over the oral arguments before the court, the chief justice has significant agenda-setting power over meetings of the Supreme Court. In modern tradition[clarification needed], the chief justice has the ceremonial duty of administering the oath of office of the president of Pakistan.[8]
The first chief justice was Sir Abdul Rashid.[9][10] The current chief justice is Gulzar Ahmed; incumbent since 21 December 2019.
Pakistan's longest-serving chief justice was Mohammad Haleem for total of 3,205 days. The shortest-serving chief justice was Muhammad Shahabuddin, who died in office 9 days after taking oath. Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry is the only justice to have served non-consecutive terms, for a total of three terms with total of 2,480 days.
Number | Name[11] | Period of office | Length of term (years, days) | Bar | Appointed by | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Sir Mian Abdul Rashid | 1949 | 1954 | 5 years, 0 days | Lahore High Court | Government of India Act 1935 |
2 | Muhammad Munir | 1954 | 1960 | 5 years, 308 days | Lahore High Court | Malik Ghulam Muhammad |
3 | Muhammad Shahabuddin† | 1960 | 1960 | 9 days | Madras High Court | Ayub Khan |
4 | A.R. Cornelius | 1960 | 1968 | 7 years, 292 days | Lahore High Court | |
5 | S.A. Rahman | 1968 | 1968 | 94 days | Lahore High Court | |
6 | Fazal Akbar | 1968 | 1968 | 166 days | East Pakistan High Court | |
7 | Hamoodur Rahman† | 1968 | 1975 | 6 years, 347 days | Calcutta High Court | |
8 | Yaqub Ali | 1975 | 1977 | 1 year, 325 days | Lahore High Court | Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry |
9 | Sheikh Anwarul Haq | 1977 | 1981 | 3 years, 183 days | Lahore High Court | |
10 | Mohammad Haleem | 1981 | 1989 | 8 years, 283 days | Sindh High Court | Zia-ul-Haq |
11 | Afzal Zullah | 1990 | 1993 | 3 years, 107 days | Lahore High Court | Ghulam Ishaq Khan |
12 | Nasim Hasan Shah | 1993 | 1994 | 362 days | Lahore High Court | |
13 | Sajjad Ali Shah | 1994 | 1997 | 3 years, 180 days | Sindh High Court | Farooq Leghari |
14 | Ajmal Mian | 1997 | 1999 | 1 year, 185 days | Sindh High Court | Wasim Sajjad |
15 | Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui | 1999 | 2000 | 209 days | Sindh High Court | Rafiq Tarar |
16 | Irshad Hasan Khan | 2000 | 2002 | 1 year, 345 days | Lahore High Court | |
17 | Bashir Jehangiri | 2002 | 2002 | 24 days | Peshawar High Court | Pervez Musharraf |
18 | Sheikh Riaz Ahmad | 2002 | 2003 | 1 year, 333 days | Lahore High Court | |
19 | Nazim Hussain Siddiqui | 2003 | 2005 | 1 year, 180 days | Sindh High Court | |
20 | Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry (1st) | 2005 | 2007 | 1 year, 253 days | Balochistan High Court | |
A | Javaid Iqbal | 2007 | 2007 | 15 days | Balochistan High Court | |
A | Rana Bhagwandas | 2007 | 2007 | 87 days | Sindh High Court | |
20 | Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry (2nd) | 2007 | 2007 | 136 days | Balochistan High Court | |
21 | A. H. Dogar | 2007 | 2009 | 1 year, 138 days | Sindh High Court | |
20 | Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry (3rd) | 2009 | 2013 | 4 years, 265 days | Balochistan High Court | Asif Ali Zardari |
20 | Tassaduq Hussain Jillani | 2013 | 2014 | 176 days | Lahore High Court | Mamnoon Hussain |
22 | Nasir-ul-Mulk | 2014 | 2015 | 1 year, 70 days | Peshawar High Court | |
23 | Jawwad S. Khawaja | 2015 | 2015 | 23 days | Lahore High Court | |
24 | Anwar Zaheer Jamali | 2015 | 2016 | 1 year, 111 days | Sindh High Court | |
25 | Mian Saqib Nisar | 2016 | 2019 | 2 years, 17 days | Lahore High Court | |
26 | Asif Saeed Khan Khosa | 2019 | 2019 | 336 days | Lahore High Court | Arif Alvi[12][13][14] |
27 | Gulzar Ahmed | 2019 | 2022 | 2 years, 42 days | Sindh High Court |
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DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1949 till:30/12/2045 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:4 start:1949
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from: 08/06/1949 till: 29/06/1954 color:app text:"Sir Mian Abdul Rashid" from: 30/06/1954 till: 02/05/1960 color:app text:"Muhammad Munir" from: 03/05/1960 till: 12/05/1960 color:app text:"Muhammad Shahabuddin" from: 13/05/1960 till: 29/02/1968 color:app text:"A. R. Cornelius" from: 01/03/1968 till: 03/06/1968 color:app text:"S. A. Rahman" from: 04/06/1968 till: 17/11/1968 color:app text:"Fazal Akbar" from: 18/11/1968 till: 31/10/1975 color:app text:"Hamoodur Rahman" from: 01/11/1975 till: 22/09/1977 color:app text:"Muhammad Yaqub Ali" from: 23/09/1977 till: 25/03/1981 color:app text:"S. Anwarul Haq" from: 26/03/1981 till: 31/12/1989 color:app text:"Mohammad Haleem" from: 01/01/1990 till: 18/04/1993 color:app text:"Muhammad Afzal Zullah" from: 19/04/1993 till: 14/04/1994 color:app text:"Nasim Hasan Shah" from: 16/04/1994 till: 04/06/1994 color:act text:"Saad Saud Jan" from: 05/06/1994 till: 02/12/1997 color:app text:"Sajjad Ali Shah" from: 03/12/1997 till: 30/06/1999 color:app text:"Ajmal Mian" from: 01/07/1999 till: 26/01/2000 color:app text:"Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui" from: 27/01/2000 till: 06/01/2002 color:app text:"Irshad Hasan Khan" from: 07/01/2002 till: 31/01/2002 color:app text:"Bashir Jehangiri" from: 01/02/2002 till: 31/12/2003 color:app text:"Sheikh Riaz Ahmad" from: 01/01/2004 till: 29/06/2005 color:app text:"Nazim Hussain Siddiqui" from: 30/06/2005 till: 09/03/2007 color:app text:"Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry" from: 10/03/2007 till: 24/03/2007 color:act text:"Javaid Iqbal" from: 25/03/2007 till: 20/07/2007 color:act text:"Rana Bhagwandas" from: 21/07/2007 till: 03/12/2007 color:app text:"Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry" from: 04/12/2007 till: 21/03/2009 color:dee text:"Abdul Hameed Dogar" from: 21/03/2009 till: 11/12/2013 color:app text:"Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry" from: 13/12/2013 till: 05/07/2014 color:app text:"Tassadduq Hussain Jillani" from: 06/07/2014 till: 16/08/2015 color:app text:"Nasir-ul-Mulk" from: 17/08/2015 till: 09/09/2015 color:app text:"Jawwad S. Khawaja" from: 10/09/2015 till: 30/12/2016 color:app text:"Anwar Zaheer Jamali" from: 31/12/2016 till: 17/01/2019 color:app text:"Mian Saqib Nisar" from: 18/01/2019 till: 20/12/2019 color:app text:"Asif Saeed Khosa" from: 21/12/2019 till: 01/02/2022 color:app text:"Gulzar Ahmed" from: 02/02/2022 till: 16/09/2023 color:app text:"Umar Ata Bandial" from: 17/09/2023 till: 25/10/2024 color:app text:"Qazi Faez Isa" from: 26/10/2024 till: 04/08/2025 color:app text:"Ijazul Ahsan" from: 05/08/2025 till: 27/11/2027 color:app text:"Syed Mansoor Ali Shah" from: 28/11/2027 till: 13/12/2028 color:app text:"Munib Akhtar" from: 14/12/2028 till: 22/01/2030 color:app text:"Yahya Afridi"
</timeline>