MUZAFFARABAD: Jus­tice Chaudhry Muhammad Ibrahim Zia was appointed Chief Justice of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Supreme Court on Monday by AJK President Sardar Masood Khan.

The appointment will take effect on Feb 25, a day after the incumbent Chief Justice Muhammad Azam Khan’s retirement on attaining the age of superannuation, according to a notification issued by the law department.

The chief justice is appointed by the AJK president on the advice of the AJK Council headed by the prime minister of Pakistan.

The AJK apex court comprises three judges, including the CJ.

Unlike Pakistan, judges in the AJK Supreme Court can also be directly appointed apart from elevation from the high court.

All three sitting judges, including the incumbent CJ, were direct appointees.

Justice Zia was initially inducted into the apex court as an ad hoc judge on April 2, 2010, an office he held until Dec 15, 2011, a day before his appointment as a permanent judge.

Prior to that, he had served as AJK’s Advocate General from December 2009 to April 2010 during the government of Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan. Before that he also served as chief prosecutor of the Ehtesab Bureau.

Justice Zia was born in a village on the outskirts of Muzaffarabad in April 1955 and after doing his LLB from the Punjab University, he started practising law in Muzaffarabad.

At the same time, he also became an active member and office-bearer of the Jamaat-i-Islami. He later joined the Muslim Conference.

Justice Zia will continue as AJK CJ till 2020.

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2017