Daily Times

LAHORE: Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah Saturday administered oath to 14 additional judges.

Those took oath include Justice Mujahid Mustaqim Ahmad, Justice Tariq Iftikhar Ahmad, Justice Abdul Sattar, Justice Habibullah Amir, Justice Muhammad Bashir Paracha, Justice Asjad Javaid Ghural, Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh, Justice Jawwad Hassan, Justice Ahmad Raza Gillani, Justice Muzammil Akhtar Shabbir, Justice Mudassir Khalid Abbasi, Justice Abdul Rehman Aurangzeb, Justice Muhammad Ali and Justice Ch Abdul Aziz.

The oath taking ceremony was held at the Main Lawn of LHC. LHC Registrar Syed Khurshid Anwar Rizvi conducted the proceedings.

Senior puisne judge Justice Shahid Hameed Dar, federal and provincial law officers, former Supreme Court Bar Association president Syed Ali Zafar, lawyers, officers of LHC and families and friends of newly appointed judges were also present.

With the elevation of these judges the number of LHC judges has reached 60. Among them 39 are confirmed whereas 21 are additional judges.

The LHC chief justice has also posted the staff at the courts of newly appointed judges.

The Punjab Bar Council boycotted the oath taking ceremony for what it believes was “inductions against merit”.

The bar council also expressed reservations over new appointments, and decided that lawyers across Punjab would not appear before any court tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the LHC chief justice Saturday inaugurated the LHC Museum and unveiled the commemorative postage stamp issued in respect of the LHC sesquicentennial celebrations.

A graceful inaugural ceremony was held in the premised of the LHC, which was attended by judges, lawyers and legal fraternity.

Talking to the audience, the chief justice said sesquicentennial celebrations were not only for judges of the Lahore High Court but also for lawyers, district judiciary, judicial staff and litigant public.

He paid tribute to Justice Muhammad Anwaarul Haq, Justice Muhammad Farrukh Irfan Khan, Justice Syed Shahbaz Ali Rizvi and Justice Erum Sajjad Gull as well as team of the Lahore Museum for establishing a wonderful museum in the LHC premises in a short time.

The chief justice also applauded efforts of attorney general, Punjab post master general and his team for issuance of commemorative postage stamp.

Earlier, addressing the participants, Justice Muhammad Anwaarul Haq said, “Formation of the Lahore High Court Museum was his dream which had come true today.”

The denomination of the ticket is fixed at Rs 8. An official of the Pakistan Postal Department said that tickets would be available for sale in all main post offices of the country right from Saturday.