Senior judge Supreme Court of Pakistan Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed is retiring on June 1, 2011 after attaining the age of superannuation, 65 years. He was elevated to the Supreme Court on September 14, 2005. Before elevation to the SC, he was Chief Justice of Balochistan High Court. He joined Balochistan High Court in 1997 as a Judge.
Justice Raja Fayyaz was member of the seven-member bench of the apex court that passed the historical November 3, 2007 judgement declaring the emergency rule imposed by the then dictator General Musharraf as unconstitutional and restraining the superior courts' judges from taking oath of allegiance to the dictator under the provisional constitutional order (PCO) promulgated by him as Army Chief following the emergency rule. Justice Fayyaz also refused to take oath under the PCO, consequently he was put under house arrest, besides Chief Justice of Pakistan and other judges of the superior courts.
He is known for his straightforwardness, boldness and being a man of principles. Justice Raja Fayyaz remained part of the apex court bench hearing missing person's cases. He is known for his keen interest in human rights cases, whereas he also delivered a landmark order in the case of missing persons on January 17, 2011.
As judge of the apex court, he remained part of the benches that gave significant judgements including the CJP restoration in 2007, National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), 18th Amendment case and Hajj corruption scam. Justice Raja Fayyaz was also part of the 13-member bench, which declared November 3, 2007 PCO and emergency rule as unconstitutional on July 31, 2009.
It is pertinent to mention here that many judges of the apex court are retiring this year who include Justice Javed Iqbal on August 1, 2011, Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui on October 13, 2011, Justice Muhammad Sair Ali on December 11, 2011, and Ad-hoc judge Justice Ghulam Rabbani on October 20, 2011.