I AM PROUD TO BE SINDHI: High Court of Sindh

High Court of Sindh

The High Court of Sindh is the highest judicial institution of Sindh province. Established in 1906, it is situated at provincial capital Karachi. Apart from being the highest Court of Appeal for Sindh in civil and criminal matters, the Court was the District Court and the Court of Session in Karachi.

History

On 21 August 1926 the Sindh Courts Act (Bom. VII of 1926) was passed into law-making provision for the establishment of a Chief Court for the Province of Sindh. On the coming into operation of Part III of the Government of India Act, 1935, on 1 April 1937, Sindh became a separate Province and the Judges of the Court of Judicial Commissioner of Sindh were appointed by Royal Warrant by the British Government.

At the time of establishment of the High Court of West Pakistan the number of the Judges of the Karachi Bench was almost the same but subsequently it was increased to 15 and on separation ofSindh & Balochistan High Court's 12 Judges were allocated to the Sindh High Court and 3 Judges to Balochistan High Court. The present approved strength of Judges is 28. However, the number of Judges appointed is 24.

Building Complex

The construction of existing main building was commenced in 1923, at an estimated cost of Rs. 39,75,248 but it was completed on 22-11-1929, at actual cost of Rs. 30,35,000. This building which was meant for 5 Judges with some provision for expansion in 1929 is now accommodating Benches in, Court Rooms and 18 Judges in Chambers. Some Judges have to hold Courts in Chambers. Besides, it also provides accommodation for the offices of the Attorney-General, Deputy Attorney-General, Federal Shariat Court of Pakistan Registry, Advocate-General, Sindh, Additional Advocate General, Sindh, Assistant Advocate General, Sindh and High Court Bar Library. Before shifting Supreme Court Registry from High Court premises two Court rooms and three Chambers were used by the Supreme Court Judges. When the Supreme Court comes to Karachi in bigger strength some more chambers were provided to the Judges of the Supreme Court.

In 1974, An Annexe Building on the North-East side of the compound of the High Court was constructed at a cost of Rs. 4.4 Millions but it did not ease the situation much, for it is accommodating the offices of this Court and also provides office accommodation for the Secretary, Ministry of Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Standing Counsel, Official Assignee, Special Banking Court, Registry of the Federal Shariat Court and Sindh Bar Council. Thus, it will be seen that there is acute shortage of accommodation.

The provincial Government has allocated a token amount of Rs. One Lac during the current year for construction of Annexe Building of South-East of the present building in order to make the scheme as ongoing scheme. The building was estimated in 1984 to cost a sum of Rs. 13.35 millions. The cost now may go up slightly because of inflation. Unless the Federal Government provides funds or the Provincial Government give preference to the construction of this building and provide necessary funds, the building is not going to be completed within a year or two.

Bench

High Court of Sindh consists of a Chief Justice and 27 other Judges. A Judge of the High Court is appointed by the President after consultation with the Chief Justice of Pakistan, the Governor of the Province and the Chief Justice of the High Court in which appointment is to be made. No person is appointed as a Judge of the High Court unless he is a citizen of Pakistan having forty years and has been an advocate of the High Court or has held a judicial office for ten years and has for a period of not less than three years served as or exercised the functions of a District Judge in Pakistan. A Judge of a High Court holds office until he attains the age of sixty-two years, unless he sooner resigns or is removed from office in accordance with the Constitution.

The principal seat of the High Court of Sindh is at Karachi with a Bench at Hyderabad, Sukkur and Larkana The High Court may has more Benches at other places as the Governor on the advice of the Cabinet and in consultation with the Chief Justice of the High Court may determine Jurisdiction.

PC0 25 March 1981

Agha Ali Hyder-not offered oath under PCO as chief justice of Sindh High Court; took oath under PCO as judge of Federal Shariat Court
Abdul Hayee Qureshi take oath under PCO
Abdul Hafeez Memon Did not take oath under PCO
Zaffar Hussain Mirza take oath under PCO
Naimuddin Ahmed take oath under PCO
S.A. Nusrat take oath under PCO
G. M. Shah Did not take oath under PCO
Ajmal Mian take oath under PCO
Muhammad Zahoor-ul-Haq take oath under PCO
Sajjad Ali Shah take oath under PCO
Ghous Ali Shah take oath under PCO
Dr. Tanzil-ur-Rehman, take oath under PCO
Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui take oath under PCO
Ghulam Muhammad Kourejo take oath under PCO
Nasir Aslam Zahid take oath under PCO
K. A. Ghani take oath under PCO
Saleem Akhtar take oath under PCO

PC0 26 January 2000

Nazim Hussain Siddiqi take oath under PCO was chief justice
Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary take oath under PCO
Ghous Mohammed Did not take oath under PCO
Mushtaq Memon Did not take oath under PCO
Rasheed Rizvi. Did not take oath under PCO
Syed Deedar Hussain take oath under PCO
Justice Amanullah Abbasi take oath under PCO
Hamid Ali Mirza take oath under PCO
Hameed Dogar take oath under PCO
Syed Saeed Ashad take oath under PCO
Abdul Ghani Shaikh take oath under PCO
Mohammed Roshan Esani take oath under PCO
S. A. Sarwar take oath under PCO
Zahid Qurban Alvi, take oath under PCO
Shabir Ahmed take oath under PCO
Ata-ur-Rehman take oath under PCO
Ghulam Rabban take oath under PCO
Sarmad Jalal Usmani take oath under PCO
Anwar Zaheer Jamali take oath under PCO
S. A. Rabbani take oath under PCO
M. Ashraf Leghari take oath under PCO
Wahid Bux Brohi take oath under PCO
Sabihuddin Ahmed take oath under PCO
Rana Bhagwandas take oath under PCO
Ghulam Nabi Soomro take oath under PCO
Musheer Alam take oath under PCO

PC0 3 November 2007

Sabihuddin Ahmed - Did not take oath under PCO was chief justice
Sarmad Jalal Usmani -Did not take oath under PCO
Anwar Zaheer Jamali -Did not take oath under PCO
Musheer Alam -Did not take oath under PCO
Mohammad Moosa K. Legari -take oath under Pco elevated to supreme court
Zia Perwez - take oath under Pco elevated to supreme court
Afzal Soomro -take oath under PCO became chief justice
Rahmad Hussain Jaferi -Did not take oath under PCO
Azizullah Memon -take oath under PCO
Khilji Arif Hussain -Did not take oath under PCO
Ameer Hani Muslim -Did not take oath under PCO
Gulzar Ahmad -Did not take oath under PCO
Maqbool Baqar -Did not take oath under PCO
Munib Ahmad Khan -take oath under PCO
Muhammad Athar Saeed -Did not take oath under PCO
Yasmin Abbasey -take oath under PCO
Mrs Qaiser Iqbal -take oath under PCO
Ali Sain Dino Metlo-take oath under PCO
Faisal Arab - Did not take oath under PCO
Sajjad Ali Shah -Did not take oath under PCO
Nadeem Azhar Siddiqui - take oath under PCO was additional judge
Abdul Rashid Kolhoro - Did not take oath under PCO was additional judge
Salman Ansari - Did not take oath under PCO was additional judge
Arshad Siraj Memon - Did not take oath under PCO was additional judge
Zafar Ahmad Khan Sherwani - Did not take oath under PCO was additional judge
Mahmood Alam Rizvi - take oath under PCO was additional judge
Abdul Rahman Farooq Pirzada - take oath under PCO was additional judge
Additional Judges Appointed under PCO
Khawaja Naveed Ahmed
Qazi Khalid
Rana Shamim
Agha Rafiq Ahmed Khan
Syed Pir Ali Shah
Bin Yamin
Arshad Noor
Dr Qamaruddin Bohra
Ghulam Dastagir Shahani
Farrukh Zia Sheikh
Abdul Qadir Khan

Reappoinment of Judges

After the general election and resignation of general musharaf ppp lead govt decided to reappoint judges under the 1973 constitution and given fresh oath some of the judges agreed to take fresh oath under constitution and reappointed on

27 August 2008 and 6 September 2008

Reapointed in August 2008
Anwer Zaheer Jamali - made chief justice
Khilji Arif Hussain
Ameer Hani Muslim
Faisal Arab
Sajjad Ali Shah
Abdul Rashid Kolhoro
Salman Ansari
Zafar Ahmad Khan Sherwani
Reappointed on 6 September 2008
Sabihuddin Ahmed elevated to supreme court
Sarmad Jalal Usmani elevated to supreme court
Gulzar Ahmad
Muhammad Athar Saeed

Restoration of Judges

After the long march of lawyer and opposion parties govt restored the deposed judiciary on 16 March 2009 only two judges of shc refused to accept reopointment and restored.

Musheer Alam
Maqbool Baqar

Former Chief Justices

Mr. Justice Abdul Kadir Shaikh (01-12-1976 to 30-06-1979)
Mr. Justice Ahga Ali Hyder ( 01-07-1979 to 24-03-1981)
Mr. Justice Naimuddin Ahmed (21-01-1986 to 03-09-1988)

Mr. Justice Ajmal Mian (04-09-1988 to 12-12-1989)
Mr. Justice Sajjad Ali Shah (13-12-1989 to 04-11-1990)
Mr. Justice Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui (05-11-1990 to 21-05-1992)
Mr. Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid (23-05-1992 to 15-04-1994)
Mr. Justice Abdul Hafeez Memon (Acting Chief Justice)(16-04-1994 to 14-04-1996)
Mr. Justice Mamoon Kazi (15-04-1996 to 04-11-1997)
Mr. Justice Wajihuddin Ahmed (05-11-1997 to 04-05-1998)
Mr. Justice Kamal Mansur Alam (05-05-1998 to 21-04-1999)
Mr. Justice Nazim Hussain Siddiqui (22-04-1999 to 03-02-2000)
Mr. Justice Syed Deedar Hussain Shah (04-02-2000 to 27-04-2000)
Mr. Justice Saiyed Saeed Ashhad (28-04-2000 to 04-04-2005)
Mr. Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed (05-04-2005 to 03-11-2007)
Mr. Justice Afzal Soomro (03-11-2007 to 15-05-2008)
Mr. Justice Azizullah M. Memon (Acting Chief Justice)(15-05-2008 to 27-08-2008)
Mr. Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali (28-08-2008 to 02-08-2009)
Mr. Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany (03-08-2009 to 13-02-2011)
Mr. Justice Mushir Alam.
Mr. Justice Maqbool Baqar (30.09.2013 till date)

Presently working Judges of Sindh High Court (As on 5th March, 2014)

Name of Judge, Date of Appointment & Date of retirement

1,Hon'ble Chief Justice Mr. Justice Maqbool Baqar, 27-08-2002, 04-04-2019
2 Hon'ble Senior Pusine Judge Mr. Justice Faisal Arab, 25-10-2005, 04-11-2017
3 Mr. Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, 25-10-2005, 13-08-2019
4 Mr. Justice Ghulam Sarwar Korai, 25-09-2009, 04-04-2014
5 Mr. Justice Ahmed Ali M. Sheikh, 25-09-2009, 02-10-2023
6 Mr. Justice Irfan Saadat Khan, 25-09-2009, 06-02-2025
7 Mr. Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi, 25-09-2009, 15-06-2025
8 Mr. Justice Munib Akhtar, 25-09-2009, 13-12-2025
9 Mr. Justice Nisar Muhammad Shaikh, 18-02-2010, 17-11-2014
10 Mr. Justice Muhammad Tasnim, 18-02-2010, 01-05-2018
11 Mr. Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, 18-02-2010, 01-02-2024
12 Mr. Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, 18-02-2010, 04-10-2026
13 Mr. Justice Nadeem Akhtar, 20-03-2012, 15-02-2024
14 Mr. Justice Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui, 20-03-2012, 07-10-2028
15 Mr. Justice Abdul Rasool Memon, 01-06-2012, 07-10-2018
16 Mr. Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto, 01-06-2012, 04-02-2025
17 Mr. Justice Sadiq Hussain Bhatti, 01-06-2012, 13-12-2017
18 Mr. Justice Syed Muhammad Farooq Shah, 27-06-2012,30-09-2017
19 Mr. Justice Farooq Ali Channa, 27-06-2012, 19-01-2020
20 Mr. Justice Aziz-ur-Rehman, 27-06-2012, 03-03-2021
21 Mr. Justice Aftab Ahmed Gorar, 27-06-2012, 31-12-2023
22 Mr. Justice Riazat Ali Sahar, 27-06-2012, 17-07-2028
23 Mr. Justice Salahuddin Panhwar, 27-06-2012, 08-08-2028
24 Mr. Justice Shaukat Ali Memon, 31-08-2013, 27-08-2022
25 Mr. Justice Shahnawaz Tariq, 31-08-2013, 01-02-2017
26 Mr. Justice Abdul Maalik Gaddi, 31-08-2013, 01-01-2021
27 Mr. Justice Nazar Akbar, 31-08-2013, 06-08-2021
28 Mr. Justice Muhammad Junaid Ghaffar, 31-08-2013, 13-09-2025
29 Mr. Justice Zafar Ahmed Rajput,31-08-2013, 15-10-2027