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

President Dr Arif Alvi appointed on Wednesday Justice Qazi Faez Isa, a senior puisne judge of the Supreme Court, as the country’s next top judge.

A tweet from president of Pakistan’s official Twitter handle stated “President Dr Arif Alvi has appointed Justice Qazi Faiz Isa as the Chief Justice of Pakistan The appointment will be effective from September 17, 2023 with the retirement of Justice Umar Ata Bandial.”

“The current Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Umar Ata Bandial, will attain the age of retirement on September 16, 2023 under Article 179 of the Constitution,” it said.

“The president appointed the Chief Justice under Article 175A-3 of the Constitution. The president will take the oath of office from Justice Qazi Faiz Isa on September 17, 2023.”

Article 179 of the Constitution of Pakistan states that a judge of the Supreme Court shall hold office until he attains the age of sixty five years, unless he sooner resigns or is removed from office in accordance with the Constitution.

Justice Faez Isa’s profile

Born on October 26, 1959 in Quetta, Justice Qazi Faez Isa is the son of the late Qazi Mohammad Isa of Pishin and the grandson of Qazi Jalaluddin, the Prime Minister of Kalat State, according to information available on the Supreme Court of Pakistan’s website.

Justice Isa was called to the Bar of England and Wales (Middle Temple, 1982) and enrolled as an advocate of the Balochistan High Court and as an advocate of the Supreme Court from Balochistan. He practiced law for over 27 years before all 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 Life Member of the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan.

Before Justice Isa’s elevation to the High Court, he was a senior partner and head of litigation in one of Pakistan’s leading law firms. He rendered his services as amicus curiae when called upon by the High Courts and Supreme Court of Pakistan and had also conducted international arbitrations.

He also served on the boards of the largest bank of Pakistan, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan and of the Quaid-e-Azam Mazaar Management Board.

After the proclamation of emergency of November 3, 2007, he elected not to appear before judges who had violated their oath. Subsequently, after the Supreme Court declared the action of November 3, 2007 constitutional, all the then judges of the High Court of Balochistan tendered their resignation, and on August 5, 2009 Justice Isa was directly elevated to the position of Chief Justice of the High Court of Balochistan.

At the time of his elevation, Justice Isa was the solitary judge in the High Court. He nominated judges, all of whom were confirmed, and thus reestablished the High Court of Balochistan. He reopened the High Court at Sibi which had remained closed for a number of years, and acquired land for the construction of the High Court at Turbat and approved the design of its building.

He then went on to upgrade all the courts in Balochistan focusing on facilitating access and providing facilities to the public.

Justice Isa introduced a system of transparent induction of officials and officers in the High Court after advertising such posts. During his tenure a large number of vacant judicial posts in the subordinate judiciary were filled. Each post was advertised and each applicant had to sit for a series of exams and acquire a minimum pass mark before being invited for an interview.

Justice Qazi Faez Isa took oath as a Judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan on September 5, 2014.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan’s website states that “Justice Isa’s judgments reflect a strong desire to adhere to the Constitution and the Rule of Law”.

He is also at pains to safeguard the public interest. He wrote a powerful dissent in the case assailing the Twenty-first Amendment to the Constitution, which enabled the trial of civilians by military court (District Bar Association, Rawalpindi v Federation of Pakistan, PLD 2015 Supreme Court 410, at 1158-1209), it said.

“Neither the Federation nor the provinces should invade upon the rights of the other nor encroach on the other’s legislative domain”, wrote Justice Isa (Sindh Revenue Board v Civil Aviation Authority, 2017 SCMR 1344) whilst striking down the imposition of ‘sales tax on services’ imposed on the Civil Aviation Authority, a federal regulatory authority, by the Sindh Legislature.