ISLAMABAD, Oct 28: The government informed the Senate on Thursday that Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Nazim Hussain Siddiqi, would complete his tenure of appointment on June 29 next year after serving a five-year term as a judge of the Supreme Court.
Record placed before the upper house showed that after the retirement of Justice Nazim Hussain Siddiqi at the age of 65 years, Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry would be the senior most justice among his colleagues.
If the seniority principle, as laid down by the Supreme Court judgments, is followed in appointment of the next chief justice, Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry would have an eight years stint as head of Pakistan's judiciary from June 2005. His date of retirement, as revealed by the government, is in December 2013.
Following are the dates of retirement of the other justices of the Supreme Court in order of their seniority:
Justice Rana Bhagwan Das, December 4, 2007; Justice Deedar Hussain Shah, December 10, 2004; Justice Javed Iqbal, July 31, 2011; Justice Hamid Ali Mirza, April 13, 2005; Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, March 21, 2009; Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan, February 9, 2010; Justice Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi, June 6, 2008; Justice Faqir Muhammad Khokar, April 4, 2010; Justice Falak Sher, September 21, 2008; Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, August 17, 2012; Justice Javed Buttar, November 15, 2013; and Justice Tassadduq Hussain Jillani, July 5, 2014.
The record placed before the upper house showed that Lahore High Court (LHC) has a functional strength of 33 judges. Three Judges of the LHC, Justice Chaudhry Iftikhar Hussain, Justice Farrukh Latif and Justice Muhammad Muzammal Khan, are already on one year extension. Justice Bashir A. Mujahid would be reaching his date of retirement on October 31 this year.
Following is the seniority list of the LHC judges followed by their dates of retirement as placed in the Senate:
Justice Iftikhar Hussain Chaudhry, December 31, 2007; Justice Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmad, May 4, 2007; Justice Syed Jamshed Ali, September 30, 2005; Justice Khawaja Muhammad Sharif, December 8, 2010; Justice Syed Zahid Hussain, December 14, 2011; Justice Mian Muhammad Najamuz Zamam, March 9, 2015; Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, January 17, 2016; Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, December 12, 2016; Justice Bashir A. Mujahid, October 31, 2004; Justice Muhammad Akhtar Shabir, March 31, 2007; Justice Ali Nawaz Chohan, August 13, 2008; Justice Nazir Ahmed Siddiqui, April 23, 2010; Justice Maulvi Anwarul Haq, December 27, 2010; Justice Nasim Sikander, August 7, 2011; Justice Jawed S. Khawaja, September 9, 2012; Justice Tanvir Bashir Ansari, June 25, 2005; Justice Muhammad Sayeed Akhtar, May 5, 2007; Justice Muhammad Farrukh Mahmud, June 26, 2007; Justice Muhammad Sair Ali, December 11, 2008; Justice Mian Hamid Farooq, January 2, 2009; Justice Abdul Shakoor Paracha, June 30, 2011; Justice Muhammad Khalid Alvi, December 12, 2012; Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry, December 14, 2012; Justice Syed Sakhi Hussain Bokhari, January 1, 2010; Justice Rustam Ali Malik, September 9, 2005; Justice Sheikh Abdul Rashid, May 31, 2006; Justice Sheikh Hakim Ali, March 31, 2009; Justice Sardar Muhammad Aslam, March 8, 2009; Justice Bilal Khan, December 4, 2011; Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui, October 13, 2008.