KARACHI, May 15: Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany, the senior puisne judge, was sworn in as acting chief justice of the Sindh High Court on Tuesday during the absence of Chief Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed, who left for Hong Kong on Monday to attend a judicial conference.

The oath was administered by Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali and the ceremony was attended by judges of the high court, federal and provincial government law officers, office-bearers of the SHC and Karachi Bar Associations and a large number of lawyers.

The cases fixed for hearing before the CJ’s division bench till May 19 have, meanwhile, been assigned to other division benches. The cases likely to be fixed before his bench would be heard by the division bench comprising ACJ Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Justice Ali Sain Dino Metlo. The present roster sittings would be revived after May 19 after the CJ’s return.