LAHORE, Aug 16: Justice Munir A. Sheikh on Saturday took oath as the acting Chief Justice of Pakistan following the departure of Justice Sheikh Riaz Ahmad abroad.

This is for the second time that Justice Sheikh has taken oath as the acting CJ in less than three weeks’ time. He had assumed this office last month too when the CJ went to Manila. Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday administered the oath to the acting CJ.

The Supreme Court judges and law officers attended the oath-taking ceremony while officer-bearers of the Pakistan Bar Council, Supreme Court Bar Association and the Lahore High Court Bar Association once again boycotted the ceremony to lodge their protest against the extension granted to judges in their respective tenures.

The LHCBA had already requested the acting CJ, who availed the three-year extension under the LFO on July 2 this year, to step down from his office and had claimed that it wouldn’t welcome him back in the Bar if he stuck to his decision of availing the extension.

Justice Sheikh is the sixth judge of the superior judiciary to enjoy an extended tenure under the LFO after Justice Sheikh Riaz Ahmad, Justice Qazi Muhammad Farooq (Supreme Court), Justice Raja Muhammad Sabir (Lahore High Court), Justice Ashraf Leghari (Sindh High Court) and Justice Abdur Rauf Khan (Peshawar High Court).