Justice Roohul Amin becomes PHC acting CJ for one day

PESHAWAR: Justice Roohul Amin Khan on Friday took oath as acting chief justice of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) for only one day - the shortest ever time for any such office-holder.

He was appointed the acting chief justice of the PHC on the retirement of Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan, who attained the age of superannuation on Thursday. The PHC will get another acting chief justice on Saturday. Governor Ghulam Ali administered the oath of office to Justice Roohul Amin as the PHC’s acting chief justice.

A full court reference was later held at the PHC in his honour where he was praised for his services. Justice Roohul Amin obtained his law degree from Khyber Law College, University of Peshawar, in 1985 and was enlisted as an advocate of the high court in 1989.

He became an advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 2001. He served in the past as deputy attorney general of Pakistan and deputy advocate general of the province, then called NWFP.

Justice Roohul Amin was elevated to the bench as an additional judge in July 2012 and was confirmed as a permanent judge of the PHC in March 2014.After the retirement of Justice Roohul Amin, Justice Musarrat Hilali will become acting chief justice of the PHC from April till the appointment of a regular chief justice by the Judicial Commission of Pakistan.

Lawyers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa recently staged a protest demonstration and boycotted the courts against the non-elevation of any judge from KP to the Supreme Court of Pakistan in the last few years. They said Justice Yahya Afridi of the Supreme Court was elevated in June 2018 and since then no PHC judge was named from KP for the apex court.