Former CJP Sajjad Ali Shah passes away

KARACHI: Former Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Sajjad Ali Shah passed away after a brief ailment at a private hospital on Tuesday. He was 84. His Namaz-e-Janaza was offered at the Imambargah Yasrab in DHA Phase IV area.

Born on February 17, 1933 in Karachi, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah enrolled as an advocate in 1959 and performed duties as district public prosecutor, additional district and sessions judge and district and sessions judge. He was also appointed as joint secretary in federal Ministry of Law and Parliamentary Affairs and posted as the Registrar of the Supreme Court in 1977. He was elevated as a judge of the Sindh High Court in 1987 and become the Chief Justice of the SHC in 1989. He was elevated to the judge of the Supreme Court in 1990. He was appointed as the Chief Justice of Pakistan in 1994 after the retirement of Justice Naseem Hasan Shah by then Pakistan People's Party’s Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto-led government by superseding the senior-most judges of the SC. However, his appointment as Chief Justice was questioned in the second tenure of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and an SC’s larger bench set aside his appointment as the Chief Justice in December 1997.

The two-and-a-half years of his tenure as the Chief Justice were full of government-judiciary row over Article 58(2)B, the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution, which empowered the president to dismiss the National Assembly and intra judicial scuffle with other judges of the SC over his appointment as the CJP. Former Chief Justice Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui, being a judge of SC, also took up his appointment matter at the Quetta bench of the apex court and held his appointment as the Chief Justice in abeyance till further orders and restrained him from performing judicial and administrative functions.

Justice Sajjad Ali Shah was also on the bench when supporters of the Pakistan Muslim League (N)  stormed the Supreme Court in November 1997 and disrupted contempt of court proceedings against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

The Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, and all judges of the Supreme Court have expressed deep sorrow and grief over the sad demise of Justice Syed Sajjad Ali Shah, former Chief Justice of Pakistan. They have extended their heartfelt condolences and sincere sympathies to members of the bereaved family of the departed soul.

The chief justice and judges prayed to Almighty Allah to shower His blessings upon the departed soul and to give patience to the bereaved family members to bear this irreparable loss with equanimity.