Justice Umar Ata Bandial takes oath as 28th Chief Justice of Pakistan
ISLAMABAD, Feb 02 (SABAH): Justice Umar Ata Bandial was sworn in as 28th Chief Justice of Pakistan on Wednesday.
President Dr. Arif Alvi administered the oath to the new chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan at a ceremony in President House.
Prime Minister Imran Khan, Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, Senate Chairman Mir Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani, Federal Ministers Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Fawad Chaudhry, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Shaukat Fayyaz Ahmed Tarin, Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar, Syed Fakhar Imam, Dr. Fehmida Mirza, Barrister Dr. Farogh Nasim, Shibli Faraz, Muhammad Azam Khan Swati, Sahibzada Muhammad Mehboob Sultan, Advisor to PM on Commerce and Investment Abdul Razaq Dawood, Advisor to PM on Parliamentary Affairs Dr. Zaheeruddin Babar Awan, Supreme Court judges Justice Qazi Faez Isam Justice Maqbool Baqar, Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Yahya Khan Afridi, Justice Qazi Muhammad Ahmin Ahmed, Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Ayesha A. Malik, former chief justices Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Tasaddq Hussain Jillani, Mian Saqib Nisar, Attorney General for Pakistan Barrister khalid Jawed Khan, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Nadeem Raza, Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Admiral Muhammad Amjad Khan Niazi, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmad Babar Sidhu, senior lawyers, senior journalists and foreign diplomats were in attendance.
Justice Umar Ata Bandial, who is the senior most judge of the Supreme Court, will be the 28th Chief Justice of Pakistan. He has assumed the office of the top judge of the country after retirement of Justice Gulzar Ahmed as chief justice of Pakistan on Tuesday.
Justice Bandial will serve in the top judicial office until September 16, 2023. He has previously served as chief justice of the Lahore High Court.
According to the scheme of seniority, Justice Qazi Faez Isa will replace Justice Bandial as the next CJP in Sept 2023 and serve until Oct 25, 2024. He, then, will be replaced by Justice Ijazul Ahsan for 282 days. Then, on Aug 4, 2025, the post will go to Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah.
Justice Shah is expected to remain in office till Nov 27, 2027, when he will be succeeded by Justice Munib Akhtar.
Justice Yahya Afridi will be the country’s next top judge from Dec 14, 2028, until Jan 22, 2030.
A per Supreme Court (SC) record, Justice Umar Ata Bandial was born on 17.09.1958 in Lahore. He received his elementary and secondary education at different schools in Kohat, Rawalpindi, Peshawar and Lahore. He secured his B.A. (Economics) degree from Columbia University, USA followed by a Law Tripos degree from Cambridge University, UK and qualified as Barrister-at-Law from Lincoln’s Inn, London. In 1983, he was enrolled as an Advocate of the Lahore High Court and some years later, as an Advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
In his law practice at Lahore Justice Umar Ata Bandial dealt mostly with commercial, banking, tax and property matters. After 1993 until his elevation, Justice Umar Ata Bandial also handled international commercial disputes. He appeared in arbitration matters before the Supreme Court of Pakistan and also before international arbitral tribunals in London and Paris.
Justice Umar Ata Bandial was elevated as Judge of the Lahore High Court on 04.12.2004. He declined oath under PCO in November, 2007 but was restored as a Judge of the Lahore High Court as a result of the lawyers and civil society movement for revival of the Judiciary and Constitutional rule in the country. Later, he served for two years as Chief Justice, Lahore High Court until his elevation as Judge of Supreme Court of Pakistan in June 2014.
During his career as Judge of the Lahore High Court and the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Justice Umar Ata Bandial has rendered judgments on a number of important public law and private law issues. These include pronouncements on civil and commercial disputes, Constitutional rights and public interest matters.
Justice Umar Ata Bandial attended: a Law Seminar on International Criminal Law at Hague (2012); the Commonwealth Regional Consultative Meeting on Judicial Services Commission Model Law Kuala Lumpur (2015); and the 13th Conference of Presidents of Supreme Courts of SCO Member States at Beijing (2018).
He taught Contract Law and Torts Law at the Punjab University Law College, Lahore until 1987 and remained a member of its Graduate Studies Committee while serving as Judge Lahore High Court.