News
June 23 , 2023
President Nominates Justice Isa to Become Next CJP in September
Islamabad: Justice Qazi Faez Isa, the most senior judge after the chief justice of Pakistan, is set to become the country’s top judge in three months after President Dr Arif Alvi approved his appointment on Wednesday.
Justice Isa will don the robes as the 29th chief justice on Sept 17, a day after the incumbent, Justice Umar Ata Bandial, retires after turning 65.
At the time of retirement, Justice Bandial will have served the top judicial office for over 19 months; he was appointed on Feb 2, 2022, though his notification had been issued on Jan 17.
In contrast, Justice Isa will serve as chief justice for over a year, until Oct 25, 2024. He took the oath as a Supreme Court judge on Sept 5, 2014.
Earlier, in May 2019, President Alvi filed a misconduct reference against Justice Isa in the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) — a body of judges empowered under Article 209 of the Constitution to hear cases of misconduct against judges.
However, a 10-judge Supreme Court bench — headed by Justice Bandial — later struck down the presidential reference in June 2020, washing away the stigma of misconduct against Justice Isa for allegedly not declaring three offshore properties in the name of his wife and children.
After the proclamation of emergency of Nov 3, 2007 , Justice Isa, as a lawyer, chose not to appear before judges who allegedly violated their oath.
Subsequently, after the Supreme Court declared the 2007 action unconstitutional, all the then judges of the Balochistan High Court tendered their resignation; on Aug 5, 2009, Justice Isa was directly elevated as the high court’s chief justice.
As chief justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Isa will face a huge challenge of 54,547 pending cases in the top court alone, whereas the overall number of cases pending in the country’s judiciary, including the superior courts and the district courts, is around 2.2 million.
Justice Isa will also inherit a divided Supreme Court… - Dawn
Courtesy Dawn