President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday administered oath of office to Justice Aminuddin Khan as the first chief justice of the newly-formed Federal Constitutional Court (FCC), just a day after approving his appointment on the advice of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The president had made the appointment under clause (3) of Article 175-A, read with Article 175-C of the Constitution. It added that it would come into effect from the date that Justice Aminuddin took his oath.
The FCC, established after the signing into law of the 27th Amendment, is set to have equal provincial representation, as well as one judge from the Islamabad High Court. The judges comprising the first FCC would be appointed through consultation between the president and the prime minister, with subsequent appointments to proceed through a reformed Judicial Commission of Pakistan.
Under the 27th Amendment, the FCC would have the sole mandate of hearing constitutional cases, while the Supreme Court would continue to hear all other cases. The legislation has also withdrawn suo motu powers from the apex court, transferring them to the FCC, which can take suo motu notice on petitions.
Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi would remain the top judge for the rest of his tenure. Upon his retirement, the senior-most judge from amongst both the SC and the FCC would become the top judge.
Justice Khan was already serving as the head of the now-dissolved constitutional bench, formed after the signing into law of the 26th Constitutional Amendment last year. He was set to retire later this month. However, the 27th Amendment has fixed the retirement age of judges of the FCC at 68 years, three years higher than that of Supreme Court judges, who retire at 65.
Justice Khan was born in Multan in 1960 and earned his LL.B from University Law College, Multan. He became an advocate of the Lahore High Court in 1987 and of the Supreme Court in 2001. He was elevated to the position of a judge in 2011 and was sworn in as a Supreme Court justice in 2019.
Also on Friday, the president notified six judges to complete the initial FCC. According to the notification, the court would comprise Justices Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi and Aamer Farooq of the Supreme Court; Justice Ali Baqar Najafi of the Lahore High Court; Justice Muhammad Karim Khan Agha of the Sindh High Court; Justice Rozi Khan Barrech of the Balochistan High Court; and Justice Arshad Hussain Shah, representing Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.