Three new additional judges of PHC take oath

PESHAWAR: Three newly-appointed additional judges of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) took oath of their offices on Friday, increasing the court’s strength to 20.

PHC Chief Justice Yahya Afridi administered the oath to Justice Arshad Ali, Muhammad Nasir Mehfooz and Shakeel Ahmad, who were recently appointed by the president for a period of one year.

The oath-taking ceremony was attended by the high court judges and lawyers, members of the district judiciary, office-bearers of the PHC Bar Association and Peshawar District Bar Association, law officers of the advocate general’s office and deputy attorney general office, and others.

The newly-appointed judges belong to the bar.Justice Arshad Ali belongs to Swabi district. He was born on April 10, 1971 and he did his LLB in 1993 from University of Peshawar. He was enrolled as an advocate of high court in 1996 and of Supreme Court in 2012.

About professional legal associations, Justice Arshad Ali also remained member (for life), Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Islamabad, member PHC Bar Association, and member Peshawar Bar Association. He has experience of dealing exclusively with all Supreme Court and High Court cases and focusing on tax, civil and service matters, constitutional matters, industrial relations, etc.

Additionally, he has dealt in corporate matters, both contentious and non-contentious inter alia relating to drafting and negotiating various agreements and advising clients on corporate governance and ancillary matters.Justice Muhammad Nasir Mehfooz belongs to a prominent family of Peshawar district and his father Mehfooz Khan late was also a senior lawyer of the Supreme Court.

He was born on July 7, 1959 and was enrolled as an advocate in 1985. He did his LLB from Khyber Law College Peshawar. He was enrolled as advocate of the High Court in 1993 and Supreme Court in 2003.

He also remained as advocate on record since March 17, 2009. He also remained legal advisor to Consulting Associates, Excise & Taxation Department. Besides, he was a visiting lecturer in Frontier  Law College and Centre of Legal Studies, Peshawar.

Justice Nasir Mehfooz also remained judicial officer (Civil Judge) from July 7, 1986 to December 31, 1992.He also received training in the Federal Judicial Academy, Islamabad, from December 26, 1988 to January 12, 1989.

Justice Shakeel Ahmad belongs to Peshawar district. He has experience in services cases and also command on constitutional matters. He also remained a legal advisor of various entities.The event was also attended by other high court judges, PHCBA president Muhammad Arbab Usman and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Advocate General Abdul Lateef Yousafzai, lawyers and law officers.