Justice Aalia Neelum 'named' as first woman chief justice of LHC

ISLAMABAD: The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) on Tuesday unanimously nominated Justice Aalia Neelum, as the first-ever woman top judge for the Lahore High Court, Geo News reported citing sources. 

The jurist was nominated in a JCP meeting headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa earlier in the day.

Justice Aalia is third in the seniority list of the LHC after the elevation of former LHC CJ Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan and Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan to the Supreme Court.

After Justice Shahzad’s elevation, Justice Shujaat Ali Khan had been appointed as the acting CJ for the high court by President Asif Ali Zardari under Article 196.

Meanwhile, Justice Shafi Muhammad Siddiqui was also unanimously nominated for post of Sindh High Court (SHC) top judge.

The slot was vacated after former SHC CJ Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi's elevation as a top court judge with Justice Shahzad and Justice Shahid earlier this month. 

Justice Aalia: a brief profile

Hon'ble Justice Miss Aalia Neelum was born on November 12, 1966 and got the LL.B. degree from University of the Punjab in 1995. She was enrolled as an advocate a year later.

She also served as an advocate in the top court after her enrollment in 2008.

The lady jurist has rendered a number of reported judgments on numerous important issues since her elevation to an LHC bench in 2013.

As per her academic qualifications, Justice Aalia did Masters in Political Science from University of Punjab and also hold diplomas in multiple fields related to law and judiciary. Moreover, she also acquired a B.Ed degree from her alma mater.

Besides practicing judiciary dealing with criminal, civil and anti-terrorism laws, Justice Aalia also performed as a focal person for gender-based violence courts among other works.