ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Justice Yahya Afridi on Saturday took oath as the 30th chief justice of Pakistan.
The swearing-in ceremony was held at Aiwan-i-Sadr where President Asif Ali Zardari administered oath to the new chief justice.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and all services chiefs attended the swearing-in ceremony of the new CJP. Apex court judges and other dignitaries also graced the occasion.
The federal ministers, chief ministers of all provinces and former CJs Iftikhar Chaudhry and Tassaduq Hussain Jillani were also present.
Senior puisne judge Justice Mansoor Ali Shah was conspicuous by his absence.
WHO IS JUSTICE YAHYA AFRIDI?
Justice Yahya Afridi was nominated as the 30th chief justice of Pakistan by the parliamentary committee by a two-thirds majority.
Justice Yahya Afridi was born on Jan 23, 1965 in Dera Ismail Khan. He completed his early education at Aitchison College, Lahore, and graduated from Government College, Lahore.
He earned an MA in Economics from Punjab University, Lahore, and later obtained an LLM degree from Jesus College, Cambridge University, under a Commonwealth scholarship.
Justice Afridi began his legal career in 1990 as a lawyer in the high court and started practicing as a Supreme Court lawyer in 2004. He also served as the assistant advocate general for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
In 2010, he was appointed as an additional judge of the Peshawar High Court and became a permanent judge on March 15, 2012. On Dec 30, 2016, he took the oath as chief justice of the Peshawar High Court and was appointed judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan on June 28, 2018.
Throughout his career, Justice Afridi presided over various cases in the superior judiciary, including being part of a larger bench concerning the reserved seats of the Sunni Ittehad Council, where he also penned a dissenting note in the judgement.
Additionally, he was a member of the nine-member larger bench of the Supreme Court addressing the presidential reference against the execution of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
Recently, Justice Yahya Afridi declined to be part of the three-member judges' committee for the Supreme Court Practice and Procedure Ordinance 2024.
CHIEF JUSTICE ISA CALLS IT A DAY
Former chief justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa called it a day on Friday (Oct 25) on attaining the age of superannuation.
A few days earlier, Justice Isa concluded his cases and started “chamber work”. Chief Justice Isa wrote judgements during the chamber work.
Justice Mansoor Ali Shah's bench was shifted to Courtroom No 1.
CJP Isa sent the names of three most senior judges of the Supreme Court to a parliamentary committee constituted under the 26th constitutional amendment. It paved the way for selection of Justice Yahya Afridi as the new chief justice.
A full court reference was held on Friday to pay tribute to Qazi Faez Isa.