ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi Thursday appointed Justice Umar Ata Bandial as the next chief justice of Pakistan (CJP).
The president made the appointment under the article 175 of the constitution. The appointment of Justice Umar Atta Bandial will be effective from February 2, 2022.
Justice Bandial will continue as the chief justice till his retirement on September 18, 2023, and will hold the position for some 19 months.
The Ministry of Law and Justice sent the summary to President Arif Alvi to appoint Justice Bandial as the next CJP on Wednesday.
In his law practice at Lahore, Justice Bandial dealt mostly with commercial, banking, tax, and property matters. From 1993 until his elevation, he also handled international commercial disputes, according to the details on the Supreme Court’s website.
He appeared in arbitration matters before the Supreme Court and also before international arbitrary tribunals in London and Paris. Justice Bandial was elevated as an LHC Judge on December 4, 2004.
He had declined oath under PCO [provisional constitutional order of Pervez Musharraf] in November 2007 but was restored as an LHC judge as a result of the lawyers’ movement for the revival of the judiciary and constitutional rule in the country.
Later, he served for two years as the LHC chief justice until his elevation as a judge of the Supreme Court in June 2014. During his career as a judge of the LHC and the Supreme Court, he has rendered judgements on a number of important public law and private law issues. These include pronouncements on civil and commercial disputes, constitutional rights, and public interest matters.
He received his elementary and secondary education at different schools in Kohat, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, and Lahore. He secured his BA (Economics) degree from Columbia University, USA followed by a Law Tripos degree from Cambridge University, UK, and qualified as Barrister-at-Law from Lincoln’s Inn, London.
In 1983, he was enrolled as an advocate of the LHC and some years later, as an advocate of the Supreme Court.
