Justice Umar Ata Bandial took oath as 28th Chief Justice of Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial took oath as Chief Justice of Pakistan in a ceremony held at the Presidency. President Arif Alvi administered the oath of office to him. Justice Umar Ata Bandial became the 28th Chief Justice of Pakistan.
The President appointed Justice Umar Ata Bandial as the Chief Justice of Pakistan. He was appointed under Article 175A of the Constitution.
Justice Umar Ata Bandial was part of the bench in several important cases i.e, the bench declaring Imran Khan as honest and trustworthy, the bench disqualifying Jahangir Tareen for life and the bench disqualifying Nawaz Sharif from the party presidency.
Justice Umar Ata Bandial was part of the larger bench which removed the reference against Justice Qazi Faiz while he was the part of Daska’s presidential reference on election fraud case, Senate election and was also a member of the bench which decided to reinstate the sacked employees.
Born in Lahore on September 17, 1958, Umar Ata Bandial received his primary and secondary education in Pakistan, then moved to the United States, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Columbia University and a barrister’s degree from Cambridge University in the United Kingdom.
He started his career as a lawyer in Lahore in 1918 and became a lawyer of the Supreme Court in a few years. In 2004, he was appointed as a judge of the Lahore High Court. In 2007, he was given a prominent position for refusing to take oath under the PCO. In 2014, he was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court.
Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial will hold this post for one year, seven months and 15 days from February 2, 2022. Justice Umar Ata Bandial will remain Chief Justice of Pakistan till September 16, 2023. According to the seniority scheme, Justice Qazi Faiz Issa will be the next Chief Justice of Pakistan, who will remain in office until October 25, 2024.
Following the retirement of Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed, seven senior judges of the judiciary will retire this year. They include five judges of the Supreme Court and two judges of the Lahore High Court. Judges of the Supreme Court retire at the age of 65, while judges of the High Court retire at the age of 62. Among the judges retiring this year are Justice Gulzar who has retired on February 1, followed by Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed of the Supreme Court on March 5, Justice Maqbool Baqir on April 4, Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Mandokhel on July 13 and Justice Sajjad Ali Shah will retire on August 13.
Justice Sardar Ahmed Naeem of Lahore High Court will retire on June 30, 2022 while Justice Chaudhry Masood Jahangir will retire on December 2.
