PESHAWAR: Three newly-appointed additional judges of the Peshawar High Court took oath of their offices on Monday increasing the court’s strength to 17 against the sanctioned one of 20.

Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Yahya Afridi administered the oath to Justice Abdul Shakoor, Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Syed Mohammad Attique Shah, who were recently appointed by the president for a period of one year.

The oath-taking ceremony was attended by the high court judges and lawyers, members of the district judiciary, office-bearers of the PHC Bar Association and Peshawar District Bar Association, law officers of the advocate general office and deputy attorney general office, and others.

The newly-appointed judges belong to the bar.

Justice Syed Attique Shah belongs to a prominent family of Charsadda district and his father Syed Mohammad Shah Badshah was also a senior lawyer.

He was born in 1968 and was enrolled as an advocate of the Supreme Court in 2008.

Before his elevation to the bench, Justice Attique Shah served as the additional attorney general for Pakistan.

He was thrice elected as the PHCBA president and had also served as its secretary general. He is well versed in civil law and constitutional matters and has appeared in several important cases during his career.

Justice Ijaz Anwar was born in Peshawar in 1968. He had done LLB from the University of Peshawar in 1991 and was enrolled as an advocate in 1993. He was later enrolled as an advocate of the high court in 1997 and that of the Supreme Court in 2008.

Justice Ijaz was known for his expertise in the matters on labour and services.

Justice Abdul Shakoor, who belongs to Abbottabad, was born in 1962. He was enrolled as an advocate of the Supreme Court in 2004. He is considered an expert in corporate and civil law.

PHC Chief Justice Yahya Afridi had put forward their names to the Judicial Commission for Appointment of Judges after thorough consultation with the members of the bar and bench.

Soon after his appointment in Dec last year, the CJ had convened a meeting of the representatives of all bar associations and KP Bar Council and asked them to suggest names of competent lawyers for appointment to the court.

He also held consultation with senior high court judges about the proposed names before choosing three of them.

Later in the day, the PHCBA held a reception in honour of the new judges.

During the event also attended by other high court judges, PHCBA president Muzzamil Khan and other office-bearers welcomed the appointments.

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2017