PESHAWAR: Justice Yahya Afridi took oath as the youngest chief justice of the Peshawar High Court here on Friday.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra administered the oath to the 51-year-old at the Governor’s House.

The oath-taking ceremony was attended by the judges of the high court and subordinate judiciary, senior government officials, lawyers, adviser to the prime minister Engineer Ameer Muqam, and others.

Justice Afridi was appointed the 23rd chief justice of the Peshawar High Court by the president on the recommendation of the Judicial Commission for appointment of judges and parliamentary committee for the judges’ appointment.

A notification in this regard was issued by the law division on Thursday.

The outgoing chief justice of the high court, Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel, was elevated to the Supreme Court on Thursday.

Born on Jan 23, 1965, the retirement of Justice Afridi as a judge the high court is due on Jan 22, 2027. Hailing from Kohat Frontier Region, he has also the distinction of becoming the first Chief Justice of the high court from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).

Justice Afridi was elevated to the high court as additional judge on Mar 15, 2010, and subsequently he was confirmed as permanent judge of the high court on Mar 15, 2012.

He was enrolled as an advocate of the high court in 1991 and that of the Supreme Court Justice Yahya becomes youngest PHC CJ in 2004.

Before his elevation to the bench, he was a prominent lawyer running a famous law firm, Afridi, Shah & Minallah, which was established in 1997.

Among the two other associates of the firm were the current Lahore High Court Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, and Islamabad High Court judge Athar Minallah.

Justice Afridi had done his LL B from Law College, Punjab University, in 1988, and did his LL.M from Jesus College, Cambridge University, UK, in 1990.

He had also remained a good sportsman and had remained a member of Cambridge University Polo Team in 1990 and was awarded gold medal for best sportsman, Aitcheson College, Lahore, in 1982.

During legal career, Justice Afridi appeared in several high-profile cases. Legal circles considered a competent lawyer, who was well versed in constitutional and corporate law. He also served as assistant advocate general in his early career until 1994.

It was in 1993 when he got fame for successfully defending the government in cases pertaining to disqualification of several alleged drug barons from contesting the general elections. Several of those barons had challenged their disqualification in the PHC but their petitions were dismissed.

Following his elevation to the PHC bench, Justice Afridi also served as inspection judge for different districts. He also remained the chairman of the Labour Appellate Tribunal, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, company judge of the Abbottabad circuit bench, head of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Subordinate Judiciary Service Tribunal, chairman of the Enrollment Committee of Lawyers at Abbottabad Bench and Peshawar, and administrative judge of anti-terrorism courts.

Published in Dawn December 31st, 2016