PESHAWAR: Three additional judges of the Peshawar High Court on Tuesday took oath as permanent judges.

Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel administered the oath to Justice Mohammad Younis Thaheem, Justice Qalandar Ali Khan and Justice Mohammad Ghazanfar Khan.

The oath-taking ceremony, which took place at the ???, was attended by the judges of high court and subordinate judiciary, office-bearers of PHC Bar Association and Peshawar District Bar Association, members of the bar, officials of advocate general office, and others. The three were appointed as additional judges on Nov 10, 2014.

They were recently confirmed by the president on the recommendation of the Judicial Commission for appointment of judges and parliamentary committee.

Court has 13 judges against sanctioned strength of 20

After these confirmations, 13 permanent and two additional judges are now serving in the high court against the sanctioned strength of 20.

Justice Younas Thaheem was born in Dera Ismail Khan on Mar 21, 1956. He was enrolled as an advocate of district courts in 1982 and that of high court and Supreme Court in 1987 and 2012, respectively.

As a lawyer, he remained on the panel of different organisations, including National Highway Authority, Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited, Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation etc. He also served as the president of DI Khan District Bar Association in 2000-01.

Justice Qalandar Ali Khan was born on Mar 3, 1957, in Nowshera. He was appointed civil judge in Jan 1983 and was promoted as additional district and sessions judge on Nov 22, 1992. He was later promoted as district and sessions judge on Jul 21, 1998.

During his tenure as a judicial officer in subordinate judiciary, he had served in different districts.

Justice Qalandar Ali had also served as the deputy solicitor of the government, director at Wafaqi Mohtasib regional office, member of the PHC Inspection team, and chairman of the provincial service tribunal. He has also remained the registrar of the high court on different occasions.

As the chairman of the service tribunal, he played an active role in the reforms in that sector and had persuaded the provincial government to confer the powers of execution and implementation on the tribunal through amendment in the relevant law.

He was also honoured with the membership of ‘Drug Court Professionals’, Alexandria, Washington DC, during a month-long visit to the US on the special invitation of the US State Department.

Justice Mohammad Ghazanfar Khan was born on Apr 20, 1957, in Abbottabad. He was enrolled as an advocate of district courts in 1982 and the high court’s in 1992.

He had also served as additional advocate general from 1999 to 2000 and remained member of the KP Bar Council afterwards.

Published in Dawn November 9th, 2016