Justice Athar Minallah was sworn in as the chief justice of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday, Radio Pakistan reported.

The oath was administered by President Dr Arif Alvi at a ceremony at the Aiwan-i-Sadr in Islamabad, attended by federal ministers, parliamentarians and judges of the IHC.

Justice Minallah will be the third chief justice of the IHC since it was established in January 2011.

The outgoing chief justice, Mohammad Anwar Khan Kasi, retired on Nov 27 after attaining the age of superannuation, and Justice Minallah was earlier notified by the Ministry of Law and Justice as the next IHC chief justice.

The notification issued on in Nov 14 had said: "In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (1) of Article 193 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the President is pleased to appoint Justice Athar Minallah, Judge, Islamabad High Court of the said Court with effect from the date he takes oath of his office."

The Judicial Commission of Pakistan headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar had on Nov 1 unanimously recommended Justice Minallah as the next IHC chief justice.

On Nov 8, the Parliamentary Committee on Judges Appointment endorsed the recommendations and forwarded the matter to the president through the prime minister for the appointment of Justice Minallah as IHC CJ.

Profile: Justice Minallah

Justice Minallah was third on the seniority list in the IHC till the sacking of Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, the former senior puisne judge who was removed last month for accusing a premier intelligence agency of manipulating decisions of the superior judiciary in a speech delivered during an event organised by the Rawalpindi Bar Association.

Subsequently, Justice Minallah became the senior puisne judge.

Justice Minallah is the eldest son of Nasrum Minallah, who was a commissioner during the 1960s and 70s. He is the son-in-law of Justice Safdar Shah who was part of the bench that convicted and sentenced former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto but wrote a dissenting note against the conviction, for which he faced the wrath of the then military dictator, Gen Ziaul Haq.

Justice Minallah joined Pakistan Customs and rose to senior positions but later resigned and started practicing law.

Following the sacking of former chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, he joined the lawyers’ movement for the restoration of the judiciary.

However, after Justice Chaudhry’s restoration, he became a critic of the judiciary because of excessive suo motu cases which led to the pendency of routine cases.

Justice Minallah was appointed as an IHC judge in June 2014 and is considered to be one of the finest judges in the superior judiciary.

In the past few years, he has authored landmark judgements in matters related to civil litigation including real estate, criminal cases, the environment and missing persons.