Justice Shamim sworn in as LHC CJ

LAHORE: Justice Sardar Muhammad Shamim Khan on Tuesday took oath as 48th Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court at a ceremony held in the Governor’s House.

Punjab Governor Ch Muhammad Sarwar administered the oath to the chief justice while Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar, Punjab Assembly Speaker Ch Pervaiz Elahi, judges of the LHC, federal and provincial law officers and senior lawyers attended the ceremony. After assuming his office, Chief Justice Khan issued transfer and posting orders among the district & sessions judges (D&SJs) of the province. LHC Registrar Shakeel Ahmad was also transferred while District & Sessions Judge Ch Humayon Imtiaz was posted as the registrar.

Through another notification issued by Registrar Humayon Imtiaz, Director General District Judiciary Bushra Zaman was also asked to report to the authority for further posting while D&SJ Ashtar Abbas was transferred from Banking Court-IV Lahore and posted as the director general of the district judiciary.

The LHC also appointed Muhammad Khalid Nawaz as D&SJ of Lahore while D&SJ Munir Ahmad was transferred from Lahore to Sheikhupura. Moreover, 34 other session’s judges were also reshuffled.

Officials of the LHC have been feeling dejected as former chief justice Anwarul Haq, two days before his retirement, approved the grant of two advance increments for the staff of his court only.

A notification issued in this regard says, “The Hon’ble Chief Justice has been pleased to grant two advance increments to the following officers/officials of this court with immediate effect, in token of exception services rendered by them.”

The officials benefited with the advance increments include Additional Registrar/Secretary to CJ Muhammad Nasir, Additional Registrar Syed Faizul Hassan, Senior Additional Registrar (Court) Fazal Karim, Private Secretary-II Kashif Rehman, Personal Assistant-I Saeed Akhtar, Additional Registrar (CS) Rana Zahid Bashir, Senior Court Associate Waheed Yaqoob and 10 others.