Justice Ayesha A. Malik Takes Oath As First Female Judge Of The Supreme Court

Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed has administered her oath at a ceremony in Islamabad.

ISLAMABAD: (UrduPoint/UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News-Jan 24th, 2022) Justice Ayesha Malik has taken oath as the first woman judge of Supreme Court of Pakistan.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Gulzar Ahmed administered the oath to her at a ceremony in Islamabad on Monday.

On Thursday, the Judicial Commission had given approval of nomination of Justice A. Malik for her appointment as an SC judge with a vote of five to four. Officially, Justice Ayesha was elevated to the rank of a judge of the top court on Friday. The final approval about her appointment was sent to the parliamentary committee on judges which also okay her appointment to the top court.

The matter of elevation of Justice Ayesha A. Malik faced huge resistance from the majority of the lawyers. The lawyers had opposed her promotion making seniority a basis because she was ranked fourth in the Lahore High Court in terms of seniority.

Justice Ayesha was nominated for the seat that fell vacant after retirement of Justice Mushir Alam on August 17.

The CJP and Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court had suggested the name of Justice Ayesha Malik, to which Justice Ayesha also agreed in writing.

With Justice Ayesha taking the office as an SC judge, the apex court has attained the strength of 17 judges.

Besides Justice Ayesha, other judges from Punjab include Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin, Justice Aminuddin Khan and Justice Syed Mazahir Ali Naqvi.

Interestingly, the four judges from Lahore who will now have the opportunity to become the CJP in future are Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Ayesha A. Malik.