ISLAMABAD – Justice Athar Minallah on Wednesday was sworn in as the new chief justice of the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
President Arif Alvi administered the oath in a ceremony held in the capital city. Judges, lawyers, and other officials were present at the event.
The name of Justice Athar Minallah was picked by a Parliamentary Committee formed on the appointment of Judges (PCAJ).
The approval came as Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Ali Muhammad Khan chaired a meeting of the committee with Pakistan Peoples Party’s Farooq H Naek and Raja Pervez Ashraf, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Rana Sanaullah and Javed Abbasi, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Nauman Wazir and Balochistan Awami Party’s Sarfaraz Bugti attending the meeting.
The appointment came a week after the supreme judicial council (SJC) headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Mian Saqib Nisar recommended Justice Minallah’s appointment as the new Chief Justice of the IHC.
The former Chief Justice of the IHC, Justice Muhammad Anwar Kasi, retired on November 27.
Justice Minallah is the eldest son of Nasrum Minallah, who served as a commissioner during 1960s and 70s. Athar Minallah also joined Pakistan Customs and rose to senior positions but later resigned and entered politics.
He remained a caretaker minister in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government during the regime of Gen Pervez Musharraf, however, following the sacking of the then chief justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry, he joined the lawyers’ movement for restoration of judiciary.
After Justice Chaudhry’s restoration, he became a critic of the judicial activism; he was sworn in as a judge of IHC in June 2014.
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