LAHORE (Muhammad Ashfaq) - Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan will take oath as the Lahore High Court Chief Justice on March 8.
Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan, the senior-most judge of the Lahore High Court, will be the 52nd chief justice.
Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan authored several historic decisions. He is considered as one of the courageous judges in the judiciary of Pakistan.
It is said that a new era of the judiciary will begin on March 8 in Punjab when Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan will take oath as chief justice.
Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan's appointment as Chief Justice of Lahore High Court was approved in the Judicial Commission meeting headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Qazi Faez Isa.
Who is Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan?
Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan was born on March 15, 1963, in Pindi Gheb, Attock. He graduated from Gordon College, Rawalpindi, followed by an LLB degree from University Law College, Punjab University, Lahore in 1989. Later, he started practicing law.
He became an advocate of the High Court in 1993 and the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 2004, practicing as an advocate for 21 years and suing a large number of cases.
Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan was elected as the High Court Bar Association Rawalpindi Secretary General in 2004 and High Court Bar Association Rawalpindi President in 2009. He became an Additional Judge in the Lahore High Court on 12th May 2011 and was confirmed on 11th May 2013.
Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan will retire as Chief Justice on March 15, 2025, thus he will hold the post of Chief Justice for 12 months and 6 days.
Challenges facing Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan
When Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmed Khan assumes the office of Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court, he will face the challenge of timely addressing 1.3 million pending cases in the lower judiciary of Punjab and 200,000 cases in the Lahore High Court. This means handling 1.5 million pending cases promptly and devising new policies in this regard.
With the number of judges in the Lahore High Court set to be reduced to 38 on March 8, filling the overall 22 vacancies will also be a significant challenge. The absence of even a single judge's appointment in the Lahore High Court for the past 30 months has severely impacted the timely dispensation of justice.
Lawyers in Lahore have been on strike for the past one and a half months regarding the allocation of cases, and litigants are facing difficulties due to the non-hearing of their cases in Lahore.
These are the challenges for which Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmed Khan, as chief justice, will devise new policies, and it is hoped that he will find solutions to all issues.
Legal expert Mian Dawood states that Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmed Khan is well-versed in constitutional laws and has the ability to handle all these challenges.
Legal expert Barrister Amrat also mentioned that Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmed Khan is a courageous judge and will be able to fix the issues.
On the other hand, lawyer bodies have also welcomed the appointment of Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmed Khan as Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court.