Justice Qazi Faez Isa, senior puisne judge, was sworn in as the 29th chief justice of Pakistan, following the retirement of his predecessor Umar Ata Bandial a day earlier.
President Dr Arif Alvi administered the oath with high-ranking government and military officials including caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, Army Chief Asim Munir, caretaker federal ministers, senators, foreign ambassadors, and other dignitaries attended the ceremony held at the President House in Islamabad.
Justice Isa’s tenure as the country’s chief justice will be relatively brief, as he is slated to retire from the top judicial post on October 25, 2024.
He took the oath as the apex court’s judge on September 5, 2014. Despite being the senior puisne judge, he was not assigned any constitutional case for the past three years following a presidential reference filed against him in 2019.
The incoming top judge of the country was born on October 26, 1959, in Quetta. His father, late Qazi Mohammad Isa, was a prominent leader in the Pakistan Movement and a close associate of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
After completing his initial education in Quetta, Justice Isa pursued O and A levels studies from the Karachi Grammar School. He then moved to London to pursue his higher education in law to complete the bar professional examination at the Inns of Court School of Law.
The incoming chief justice joined the Balochistan High Court on January 30, 1985, and became an advocate of the Supreme Court in March 1998. After an emergency was declared during the Pervez Musharraf era in November 3, 2007, Justice Isa decided not to appear before judges who took oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO).
At the same time, after the decision of November 3 was annulled by the Supreme Court, the Balochistan High Court judges resigned, while Justice Isa was directly appointed as the judge of the provincial high court on August 5, 2009.
He remained associated with the field of law for 27 years before being appointed as a judge in the Balochistan High Court and the Supreme Court. During this time, he was sought after for assistance in various difficult cases by different high courts and the Supreme Court, as well as for handling international arbitrations.
Source: The News