Chief Justice

The Chief Justice of Pakistan is the head of the court system of Pakistan and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. He is the senior most of 17 Senior Justices of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. From 1947 until 1960, the chief justice and senior justices were known as Federal Judge.

He is the chief administrative officer of the country’s court system and the highest judicial officer, ranking immediately above the Chief Justice of the Federal Shariat Court, and is responsible for supervising federal judicial policies, and conducting judicial business in the Supreme Court.

Nomination for the appointment of the Judiciary chief is made by Prime Minister of Pakistan, and final appointments are confirmed by the President of Pakistan. Presiding over the oral arguments before the court, He has significant agenda-setting power over meetings of the Supreme Court. In modern tradition, He has the ceremonial duty of administering the oath of office of the President of Pakistan.

Pakistan’s longest-serving Chief Justice was Mohammad Haleem for total of 3,205 days. The shortest-serving Chief Justice was Muhammad Shahabuddin, who died in office 9 days after taking oath. Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry is the only Justice to have served non-consecutive terms, for a total of three terms with total of 2,480 days.