New LHC chief to remain in office for a little over 10 weeks

ISLAMABAD: Justice Mamnoon Sheikh, who will be sworn in as the Lahore High Court (LHC) chief justice on January 1, will work in this office for just two months and eighteen days.

Incumbent Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Shamim Khan retires on Tuesday after reaching the age of superannuation. The retirement age in the case of high court judges is 62 years while it is 65 years for the Supreme Court justices.

After the retirement of Justice Mamnoon Sheikh on March 18, 2020, Justice Qasim Khan will become the top judge of the LHC to serve for one year and four months. After his superannuation on July 5, 2021, Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Naqvi will become the LHC chief to remain the chief justice for almost one year and will retire on August 31, 2022.

The LHC record shows that side by side the retirement of Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Shamim Khan, another LHC judge Justice Shahid Mubeen will also reach the age of superannuation on the same day.

The total sanctioned strength of the LHC is sixty judges. At present, it comprises 45 justices. With the retirement of the chief justice and Justice Shahid Mubeen, the LHC will be short of 17 judges. It has never happened that the LHC has the full strength of judges at any time. A few months back, Justice Sardar Muhammad Shamim Khan proposed the names of new judges, but the Judicial Commission did not agree with them and sent them back. The matter of inducting new justices was not taken up after that because of fast approaching retirement of the chief justice.

The names proposed by the chief justice were those of lawyers from different cities of Punjab and some district and sessions judges. The ratio of lawyers and district and sessions judges recommended for elevation to the LHC was maintained with most of them being the senior advocates.

It is believed that the new chief justice may send his recommendations to the Judicial Commission to appoint new judges so that the judicial work of the LHC is not affected due to seventeen vacancies.

Meanwhile, the chief justices of the other high courts are retiring on different dates. Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth superannuates on March 15, 2023; Sindh High Court Chief Justice Ahmed Ali M. Shaikh retires on Oct 2, 2023; and Balochistan High Court Chief Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail superannuates on Nov 12, 2023.

They will superannuate on these dates if they or anyone of them was not elevated to the Supreme Court. In that case, they will have another three years to serve in the superior judiciary. Like the Supreme Court, the senior most judges in high courts automatically become chief justices after the retirement of the chief justices in accordance with the 1996 judgement of the apex court in the Al-Jihad Trust case. The government has no power, whatsoever, to interfere in these appointments.