Seniority Dispute in Judge Appointments: Who is Lahore High Court’s First Female Chief Justice Aalia Neelum?
The Supreme Judicial Commission, led by Supreme Court Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, has officially approved Justice Aalia Neelum as the Chief Justice of Punjab’s highest court, the Lahore High Court.
Justice Aalia Neelum will be the first female Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court. She was appointed as a judge of the Lahore High Court in 2013 and became a permanent judge in 2015.
In the Supreme Judicial Commission meeting, the names of the three senior-most judges for the Chief Justice position were Justice Shujaat Ali Khan, Justice Ali Baqar Najafi, and Justice Aalia Neelum, with the commission selecting Justice Ayesha A. Malik.
Justice Shujaat Ali Khan, the senior-most judge of the Lahore High Court, is currently serving as the acting Chief Justice.
Seniority Dispute in Judge Appointments
Justice Aalia Neelum was third in seniority, which has received mixed reactions from the legal community. Some legal experts argue that the 1996 Al-Jehad case established that the senior-most judge should be appointed as Chief Justice, and this principle of seniority cannot be overlooked.
This is the second time since 1996 that a judge’s appointment in the Lahore High Court has deviated from the seniority principle. During General Pervez Musharraf’s era, Justice Fakhrun Nisa Khokhar was overlooked for seniority, and Justice Iftikhar Hussain Chaudhry was appointed Chief Justice instead.
Based on the same 1996 decision, the senior-most judge at the time, Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Khan, who was sent to the Federal Shariat Court, was appointed as Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court.
READ MORE: Justice Aalia Neelum, nominated as first woman chief justice of Lahore High Court
The last Lahore High Court Chief Justice appointed based on seniority was Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan in March 2024. The Judicial Commission did not consider the appointment of a Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court when appointing Chief Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan to the Supreme Court, leading to the appointment of Justice Shujaat Ali Khan as acting Chief Justice.
Previously, in 1996, Justice Irshad Hassan Khan was appointed acting Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court before the Judges’ Case ruling.
Justice Aalia Neelum is currently third in seniority, but her appointment as Chief Justice will change the seniority list of the Lahore High Court.
The Al-Jehad Trust case, led by Advocate Wahab Al-Khairi and Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah of Pakistan, set the principles for the appointment and seniority of judges.
Before the Al-Jehad Trust case ruling, appointments of Chief Justices often ignored seniority, yet judges continued to perform their duties. However, the current situation is different, and the coming days will reveal the decisions of senior judges affected by the disruption of seniority.
In the 150-year history of the Lahore High Court, only a few women have been appointed as judges. Justice Aalia Neelum is the first female to receive this honor. Five women have served as judges in the Lahore High Court.
During former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s second term, women judges were appointed to the Lahore High Court for the first time. These included Justice Fakhrun Nisa Khokhar, Nasira Javed Iqbal (daughter-in-law of poet Allama Iqbal), and Talat Yaqoob (sister of former minister Rehana Sarwar).
Due to the 1996 Al-Jehad Trust case decision, Justice Fakhrun Nisa Khokhar remained in her position, while the other two women judges had to step down.
During General Pervez Musharraf’s era, Nasira Iqbal, wife of former Supreme Court judge Javed Iqbal, was reappointed as a judge in the Lahore High Court but eventually retired from the position.
Justice Fakhrun Nisa Khokhar was the first female senior judge of the Lahore High Court but was not appointed as Chief Justice. She later became the President of the Lahore High Court Bar Association and a Member of the National Assembly on a Pakistan Peoples Party ticket.
Following the lawyers’ movement, then Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Chaudhry appointed Justice Ayesha A. Malik as a judge of the Lahore High Court.
After Justice Ayesha A. Malik, Justice Aalia Neelum was appointed as a judge of the Lahore High Court. Despite the seniority principle, she was appointed as a Supreme Court judge, a decision contrary to the Judges’ Case ruling.
Justice Aalia Neelum was succeeded by Justice Iram Sajjad Gull in the Lahore High Court, but she served as an additional judge and retired when her term ended.
Who is the New Chief Justice of Lahore High Court, Justice Aalia Neelum?
Specializing in criminal law, Justice Aalia Neelum was born on November 12, 1966. She earned her law degree in 1995 and became a lawyer in 1996.
According to the Federal Judicial Academy, she has practiced in constitutional matters, white-collar crime, civil, criminal, anti-terrorism laws, NAB, banking crimes, special central court laws, and banking laws.
She successfully handled numerous cases in the bar, including civil law, criminal law, banking law, and anti-terrorism laws.
Justice Aalia Neelum was appointed as an additional judge of the Lahore High Court in 2013 and became a permanent judge in 2015.
She has given important verdicts in several cases, including granting bail to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in a money laundering case.
Justice Aalia Neelum overturned anti-terrorism court decisions and restored bail applications in cases against former Prime Minister Imran Khan related to the May 9 incidents.
She also granted bail to Khadija Shah and Alia Hamza, among others, in the May 9 cases.
Following the Supreme Judicial Commission’s approval, the parliamentary committee will formally approve her appointment, and the President will issue her appointment notification. The Governor of Punjab will then administer her oath as Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court.
If not appointed to the Supreme Court, she will retire as Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court on November 11, 2028.