Justice Umar Ata Bandial takes oath as new CJP

ISLAMABAD: Justice Umar Ata Bandial on Wednesday took oath as 28th Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) after the retirement of Justice Gulzar Ahmed who got retired after working for more than two years on the top judicial position on February 1, ARY News reported. 

President Dr Arif Alvi administered the oath to the new CJP at a ceremony held in Islamabad. Prime Minister Imran Khan, sitting and retired judges of the Supreme Court were present on the occasion.

Justice Bandial will continue as the chief justice till his retirement on September 18, 2023, and will hold the position for some 19 months.

Following Justice Bandial’s superannuation, Justice Qazi Faez Isa will become the chief justice to serve this office for over one year till October 25, 2024.

Profile of CJP

Justice Bandial is the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court (SC).

Justice Umar Ata Bandial was born on September 17, 1958, in Lahore. He received his elementary and secondary education at different schools in Kohat, Rawalpindi, Peshawar and Lahore.

Read more: President approves appointment of Justice Umar Ata Bandial as CJP

He secured his B.A. (Economics) degree from Columbia University, USA followed by a Law Tripos degree from Cambridge University, UK and qualified as Barrister-at-Law from Lincoln’s Inn, London.

In 1983, he was enrolled as an Advocate of the Lahore High Court (LHC) and some years later, as an advocate of the Supreme Court (SC).

Justice Umar Ata Bandial had been elevated as an LHC judge on December 4, 2004.

He had declined oath under the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) in November 2007 but he was restored as the LHC judge as a result of the lawyers and civil society movement for the revival of the Judiciary and Constitutional rule in the country.

Later, he had served for two years as the Lahore High Court (LHC) chief justice until his elevation as the SC judge in June 2014.

During his career as an LHC judge, Justice Bandial rendered judgments on a number of important public law and private law issues. These include pronouncements on civil and commercial disputes, Constitutional rights and public interest matters.