LAHORE: Thirteen newly appointed additional judges of the Lahore High Court (LHC) took oath of their offices on Friday.

Chief Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan administered oath to the judges at a ceremony held on the main lawn of the LHC building.

The additional judges include Justice Sohail Nasir, Justice Shakil Ahmad, Justice Safdar Salim Shahid, Justice Ahmad Nadeem Arshad, Justice Muhammad Tariq Nadim, Justice Muhammad Amjad Rafiq, Justice Abid Hussain Chathha, Justice Anwaar Hussain, Justice Ali Zia Bajwa, Justice Sultan Tanvir Ahmad, Justice Muhammad Raza Qureshi, Justice Muhammad Shan Gul and Justice Muhammad Raheel Kamran Sheikh.

Justice Nasir, Justice Ahmad and Justice Shahid have been elevated from the district judiciary while others have been chosen from the bar.

Justice Arshad has an experience of over 30 years of legal practice with 17 reported judgments. Justice Nadim with an experience of around 29 years of legal practice, including as a law officer, has 23 reported judgements to his credit. Justice Rafiq has served as additional prosecutor general before his elevation with 42 reported judgements.

Justice Chathha practised law for over 20 years and did his LLM from Columbia.

Justice Anwaar Hussain with LLM degree from Canada holds university distinctions in all three parts of LLB. He also holds diplomas in labour laws as well as intellectual property laws with experience in teaching.

Being a former additional advocate general, Justice Hussain has been a member of commissions made by the LHC on smog, houbara bustard and childcare. He has 52 reported judgments to his credit.

Justice Bajwa with nine reported judgements has experience of over 15 years legal practice. He has served as assistant advocate general and special prosecutor in a treason case against former president retired Gen Pervez Musharraf.

Justice Ahmad has a degree of bar at law with 22 reported judgements and expertise of two decades in corporate and banking laws.

Justice Qureshi is an expert on corporate law with a law practice of two decades. He has 24 reported judgements to his credit.

Justice Gul has an extensive experience of over 13 years as a government law officer with 80 reported judgements. He did his LLM from Cambridge. He was serving as additional advocate general before his elevation.

Justice Sheikh has a degree of bar at law with 20 years of experience of legal practice in tax, commercial, civil, regulatory, constitutional litigation and white collar crimes. He was also a member of the Pakistan Bar Council at the time of the elevation.

With the fresh elevations, the number of judges at LHC reached 50 against the constitutional strength of 60. Among them, 37 are confirmed.

Published in Dawn, May 8th, 2021