President approves Justice Qazi Faez Isa’s appointment as next chief justice

President approves Justice Qazi Faez Isa’s appointment as next chief justice

Islamabad: President Arif Alvi on Wednesday appointed Justice Qazi Faez Isa, a senior puisne judge of the Supreme Court, as the country’s next top judge. The appointment will come into effect on September 17 when the incumbent chief justice of Pakistan (CJP), Justice Umar Ata Bandial, will retire. An announcement issued by the presidency said CJP Bandial will reach the age of retirement on September 16 under Article 179 of the Constitution.

“The president has appointed the chief justice under Article 175 of the Constitution. The president will administer oath to Justice Qazi Faez Isa on September 17,” it added.

Who is Justice Qazi Faez Isa?

Born in Quetta on Oct 26, 1959, Justice Qazi Faez Isa is the son of the late Qazi Mohammad Isa of Pishin, who was in the forefront of the Pakistan Movement and a close associate of Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

Justice Isa’s father was the first person from the province to acquire the Bar-at-Law degree and helped establish the All India Muslim League in Balochistan after his return from London. His father had served as the only member on the Central Working Committee of the All India Muslim League from Balochistan.

Begum Saida Isa, Justice Isa’s mother, was a social worker and worked in an honorary capacity on the boards of hospitals and other charitable organisations which focused on education, children and women’s health issues.

After completing his primary and secondary education in Quetta, Isa moved to Karachi to finish his ‘O’ and ‘A’ levels from the Karachi Grammar School (KGS). He then went on to study law in London, where he completed his Bar Professional Examination from the Inns of Court School Law, London.

Justice Isa enrolled as an Advocate of the Balochistan High Court on Jan 30, 1985, and as an Advocate Supreme Court in March 1998.

He has practised law for over 27 years before the High Courts of Pakistan, the Federal Shariat Court and the Supreme Court of Pakistan. He became a member of the Balochistan High Court Bar Association, Sindh High Court Bar Association and a Life Member of the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan.

From time to time, he was called upon by the High Courts and the Supreme Court as amicus curiae and rendered assistance in certain complicated cases. He has also conducted international arbitration.

Justice Isa took oath as a judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Sept 5, 2014.

He was also the subject of the presidential reference filed by the PTI government in May 2019, which alleged that he had acquired three properties in London on lease in the name of his wife and children between 2011 and 2015, but did not disclose them in his wealth returns.

On June 19, 2020, a 10-member SC bench threw out the presidential reference against Justice Isa and termed it invalid. However, seven of the 10 judges on the bench ordered the Inland Revenue Department and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to seek explanations from the judge’s wife and children on the nature and source of funding for three properties in their names in the UK and submit a report to the SC registrar.

Later in 2021, Justice Isa won the case which set aside the SC’s aforementioned directive after which the entire exercise conducted by the FBR was rendered null and void.