Daily Times

Justice Sadaqat Hussain Raja Wednesday took oath as Chief Justice of the High Court of Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Sardar Masood Khan administered oath to the new Chief Justice of the AJK HC at a ceremony hosted at the President House in the State metropolis -Muzaffarabad.

AJK Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider Khan, members of the state cabinet, senior officials of the AJK government, retired judges of the AJK superior judiciary including former chief justice Azad Jammu and Kashmir Chaudhry Ibrahim Zia and Justice (r) Ghulam Mustafa Mughal, Chief Election Commissioner of AJK Justice (r) Abdul Rasheed Sulehriya, sitting and retired officials of the superior members of the legal fraternity from various parts of Azad Jammu Kashmir including members of the Bar Councils of Muzaffarabad, Hattian, Bagh, and Neelum attended the oath-taking ceremony.

The competent authority – Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan, who is also Chairman of Azad Jammu Kashmir Council, accorded formal approval of the induction of Justice Sadaqat Hussain Raja as permanent Chief Justice of the High Court of Azad Jammu Kashmir.

He was earlier performing as acting Chief justice of the High Court of Azad Jammu Kashmir and the Chairman of Azad Jammu Kashmir Press Foundation, the office he would continue to hold.

Justice Sadaqat Hussain Raja, born on 9th June 1963 in village Khairabad, Tehsil and District Muzaffarabad, Azad Jammu Kashmir. He got his early education in the local primary school. He passed his Matriculation and Intermediate examinations from the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education Mirpur in 1978 and 1981 respectively. He passed his Bachelor Degree from the University of Azad Jammu & Kashmir in 1985 and got his LL.B. Degree from the University of Punjab, Lahore in 1988.

He was enrolled as a pleader on 28.6.1988 and established legal practice in the lower courts. His lordship has also taken part in politics of the Bar Association and remained General Secretary of Central Bar Association in the years 1989, 1991, 1993 and 1997. His Lordship was nominated as President of the Central Bar Association in 2003, 2004 and 2007. His Lordship remained Vice President of Bar Council of Azad Kashmir in the year 2013.