ISLAMABAD: Following the retirement of Justice Gulzar Ahmed, Justice Umar Ata Bandial was sworn in as the 28th Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) during a ceremony at the Aiwan-e-Sadr on Wednesday.
President Dr. Arif Alvi delivered the oath, which was also attended by Prime Minister Imran Khan.
He is the first CJP in decades who is not a judge of the Provincial Constitutional Order (PCO).
Justice Bandial graduated from the University of Cambridge with a law degree in 1981 and was appointed to the Lahore High Court (LHC) in 2004.
Bandial had refused to take the oath under PCO in 2007, but was reinstated as a judge of the LHC under the Naek formula during the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) rule.
He served as the LHC’s top justice for two years until being appointed to the Supreme Court as a judge in June 2014.
Throughout his career, Justice Bandial ruled on a number of significant public and private law matters. These comprised declarations on civil and economic issues, constitutional rights, and matters of public interest.
He served on the panel that dismissed former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from leading the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and declared Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) president Imran Khan “Sadiq and Ameen.”
However, under Article 62 (1) (f) of Pakistan’s Constitution, the same panel has banned PTI politician Jahangir Khan Tareen for life.
He was also a member of the drab court that overturned the president’s referral against Justice Qazi Faez Isa and ordered the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to investigate the foreign assets of SC judge family members. On April 26, 2021, however, a majority of judges overruled his decision.
In his inaugural speech, Justice Bandial urged that all courts, including the Supreme Court, undergo performance audits to detect and correct flaws.
Salahuddin Ahmed, former president of the Sindh High Court Bar Association, said the incoming CJP’s major challenge will be to conduct an urgent data-based examination of the judicial system’s inefficiencies and delays, and to enact reforms all the way down to the magistrate/civil judge level.
“Demonstrate the apex court’s independence and unify the court to put an end to any suspicions of outside interference,” he stated.
He also suggested that CJP Bandial should address claims of arbitrariness and favouritism by structuring and regulating judicial appointments, suo motu, as well as the fixing of rosters and cases.
Justice Bandial will serve as Pakistan’s Chief Justice until September 2023.
