Justice Umar Ata Bandial takes oath as 28th CJP

Islamabad: Supreme Court Justice Umar Ata Bandial has took oath as Pakistan's 28th Chief Justice on Wednesday (February 2)—replacing incumbent CJP Justice Gulzar Ahmed. 

President Dr. Arif Alvi administered the oath to the new chief justice of the Supreme Court at a ceremony in President House.

Prime Minister Imran Khan, federal ministers, services chiefs, judges and members from the legal fraternity attended the oath taking ceremony.

Justice Umar Ata Bandial, who is the senior most judge of the Supreme Court, will be the 28th Chief Justice of Pakistan. He has assumed the office of the top judge of the country after retirement of Justice Gulzar Ahmed as chief justice of Pakistan yesterday. 

The new Chief Justice of Pakistan, Umar Ata Bandial is one of the judges who declined to retake their oaths in 2007 when former Pakistani military ruler General Pervez Musharraf proclaimed a state of emergency in the country.

Judges of Supreme Court of Pakistan, senior lawyers, Law Officers and officers of Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan attended the ceremony. Registrar Supreme Court of Pakistan conducted the proceedings of oath taking ceremony. 

Officers and staff of the apex court were also present on the occasion.

In his law practice, Justice Bandial dealt mostly with commercial, banking, tax, and property matters.

According to Supreme Court's website, Justice Bandial dealt mostly with commercial, banking, tax, and property matters—also handling international commercial disputes. 

He then, served for two years as the Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice until his elevation as a judge of the Supreme Court in June 2014. 

In his career as a judge, Justice Bandial has rendered judgments on a number of important public law and private law issues, including pronouncements on civil and commercial disputes, constitutional rights, and public interest matters. 

It is pertinent to mention here that CJP Justice Gulzar Ahmed retired on February 1, 2022. Justice Bandial is the senior most judge of the Supreme Court.

The seniority of an apex court judge is counted from the date of his elevation to the Supreme Court. It is possible, and has happened more than once, that a justice who was junior to another judge in the High Court became senior to him in the top court as he had been inducted before the other.

Justice Gulzar Ahmed assumed the office of the chief justice on December 21, 2019 replacing Chief Justice Saqib Nisar, who is of late embroiled in controversies relating to his incumbency as the top judge amid calls for investigations by a judicial forum.