Daily Times

Justice Musarrat Hilali on Saturday took oath as the first female chief justice of the Peshawar High Court (PHC).Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Haji Ghulam Ali administered the oath to the new Chief Justice Musarrat Hilali. The ceremony was also attended by Peshawar High Court Judges, Office-Bearers of the Bar Councils, lawyers and Ministers of caretaker government.

Born in Peshawar on August 08, 1961, she received Law Degree from Khyber Law College Peshawar University and enrolled as an Advocate of District Courts in 1983, as an Advocate of the High Court in 1988 and as an Advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 2006.

Being a female she had several achievements in her career including the first female elected office-bearer on the post of Secretary at the bar from 1988-1989, Vice President at bar (twice) 1992 till 1994 , General Secretary 1997-1998, first female twice elected as executive member of Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) from 2007-2008 and 2008-2009.

She was also the first female Additional Advocate General of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from November 2001 till March 2004 and later appointed as first female Chairperson Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Environmental Protection Tribunal.

She also served as first female Ombudsman for Protection against Harassment of Women at Workplace. She was elevated to the Bench as Additional Judge on March 26, 2013 and confirmed as permanent judge of the Peshawar High Court on March 13, 2014.

It is worth to mention here that Justice Roohul Amin Khan on Friday, last, took the oath as Chief Justice of Peshawar High Court (PHC) following the retirement of Chief Justice Qaiser Rasheed and retired on the same day and was given honor in a full court reference on the same day.

The governor congratulated the CJ Justice Musarrat Hilali on her new responsibilities and expressed good wishes.

Earlier, President of Pakistan Arif Alvi appointed Justice Musarrat Hilali as Chief Justice Peshawar High Court (PHC) with effect from April 1 and till appointment of a regular Chief Justice by the Judicial Commission of Pakistan.

If appointed as the regular CJ, Justice Hilali would be the second female in the country who has been elevated to the office of chief justice of a high court – the first being Justice Syeda Tahir Safdar, the chief justice of the Balochistan High Court.

A notification available with APP disclosed that in exercise of the power conferred under Article 196 of the constitution of Pakistan 1973, the President of Pakistan Dr. Arif Alvi has appointed Justice Musarrat Hilali, being the most senior judge of the PHC as Chief Justice.