Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed on Saturday took oath as acting chief justice of the Lahore High Court (LHC) at the Governor’s House.
He would run the administrative business of the court in absence of CJ Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry who has proceeded on a 10-day visit to Norway to participate in functions held in connection with Pakistan Day. Punjab Governor Latif Khosa administered oath to Saeed at a simple but graceful ceremony.
A number of LHC judges also participated in the ceremony. Saeed is the senior most judge of the LHC among its 38 judges after the CJ. He was appointed as an additional adhoc judge of the LHC on December 1, 2004 and on confirmation took oath as LHC judge on December 1, 2005. As a judge, he soon proved his judicial competency and sagacity and won hearts of lawyers and his colleagues, who still honour him for what he is, a man of integrity.
To highlight the oath taking, the LHC Office issued a compete bio data of Saeed, which indicates vividly that he is a talented judge who will be the next CJ after retirement of Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry or his elevation to the Supreme Court. Saeed was born on August 28, 1954 at Rawalpindi and completed basic education from the same city. He did O Levels from the Saint Mary’s Academy in 1970 and graduated from Sir Syed College, Rawalpindi in 1974. Saeed joined the Punjab University Law College, Old Campus Lahore and obtained a LLB degree in 1978.
He joined the legal profession in the same year at Rawalpindi and after completion of apprenticeship, enrolled as an advocate.
After working in various chambers, he started his independent practice in Lahore in 1980 and was enrolled as an advocate of the LHC and advocate of the Supreme Court. Saeed was appointed as legal advisor to the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) in 1996 and appointed as special prosecutor by the then Ehtesab Bureau in 1997. He was member of the legal team prosecuting high profile cases before the LHC Lahore and Rawalpindi benches. Saeed was appointed as deputy prosecutor general NAB at Islamabad in 2000 for one year and made a special prosecutor in 2001 to prosecute cases before accountability courts at the Attock Fort and Rawalpindi. He also taught at the Quaid-e-Azam Law College, Lahore for three years. He also appeared as advocate before a cricket inquiry, including proceedings held at Melbourne, Australia. In June 2006, he was nominated as member of the board of governors of the National College of Arts.
