New CJP Umar Ata Bandial to take oath today amid many challenges to judiciary

ISLAMABAD: Justice Gulzar Ahmed has retired after serving as the chief justice of Pakistan for two years and 42 days and he will be succeeded by Justice Umar Ata Bandial who will take oath today as new CJP amid many challenges to the judiciary.

Justice Gulzar Ahmed had taken oath as CJP on December 21, 2019, and later he was succeeded by Justice Umar Ata Bandial as the most senior judge of the Supreme Court (SC).

The Ministry of Law and Justice had issued a notification regarding the appointment of Justice Bandial as the new CJP on January 17 who will serve as the top judge of the country by September 2023 and later Justice Qazi Faez Esa will assume the office.

Justice Bandial will face the biggest challenge of pending cases in the Supreme Court (SC) just after assuming his charge as the new Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP). At the time of oath of former CJP Gulzar Ahmed, the number of pending cases in the top court was 47,000, whereas, the figure has now reached up to 52,000.

The new CJP will be bound to hear almost 51,766 cases that have been pending only in the top court. As many as 2.1 million cases are still pending in all courts including SC, high courts and other subordinate courts.

The new top judge will face another challenge of dispatching speedy trials to restore the confidence of the nation over the courts. The time will decide on the success of the new chief judge.

Moreover, he will also go through a challenge to get legal assistance from the SC Bar Association and Bar Council.

Analysts said that SBCA and Bar Council have a responsibility to establish a good relationship in the presence of Justice Bandial. The lifetime disqualification of lawmakers’ petition filed by SCBA will also become a test case of the new CJP Umar Ata Bandial that had been returned by the SC Registrar Office.