Supreme Court’s chief justice designate Mian Saqib Nisar will take oath on Saturday (tomorrow).
Earlier, President Mamnoon Hussain approved the appointment of Justice Mian Saqib Nisar as the new chief justice of Pakistan.
The incumbent CJP Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali will retire on December 30 (today). He will be replaced by Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, who is the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court.
Read more: Justice Mian Saqib Nisar appointed new CJP
-Panama papers-
As the Supreme Court’s chief justice takes oath tomorrow, his first challenge will be a composition of the larger bench that will hear the Panamagate case.
The SC in November took up a slew of petitions seeking PM Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification in the wake of Panama Papers, which in April revealed that the PM’s family members had stashed money in offshore companies.
The outgoing Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, who was also heading the bench and conducted 10 hearings of the case, adjourned the case till first week of January. His retirement, due on December 30 (today), will dissolve the current bench.
Justice Nisar, who will remain the top judge of the country for more than two years, will reconstitute the bench with many options available to him.
He can replace the outgoing CJP by sitting himself in the bench or hand over the command of the new bench to Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, who will be the senior most judge, once Justice Nisar assumes office.
-Justice Saqib-
Hon’ble Mr Justice Mian Saqib Nisar was born on 18.01.1954 at Lahore; passed his Matriculation from Cathedral High School, Lahore and Graduation from Government College, Lahore, Bachelor of Law was done from the University of Punjab in the year 1979-80; joined legal profession as an Advocate on 02.05.1980, was enrolled as an Advocate of the High Court in 1982 and as Advocate of the Honorable Supreme Court of Pakistan in 1994, was elevated as the Judge of the High Court on 22.05.1998 and of the Supreme Court of Pakistan on 18.02.2010. His lordship was the member of a delegation representing Pakistan in “International Youth Conference” held in Libya, Tripoli in 1973.
His lordship had been practising in Civil, Commercial, Tax and Constitutional Law; had appeared in a large number of important constitutional cases both in the High Court and the Supreme Court. His lordship was elected as Secretary General of Lahore High Court Bar Association in the year 1991; was appointed Federal Law Secretary on 29.03.1997 and it is for the first time in the history of the country that some one from the Bar had been appointed to such post.
Read more: Judiciary will not be pressurised, says Justice Saqib Nisar