Justice Faez Isa sworn in as 29th chief justice of Pakistan

Justice Qazi Faez Isa has been sworn in as the 29th chief justice of Pakistan today.

He was administered the oath of office by President Arif Alvi during a ceremony at Aiwan-i-Sadr in Islamabad on Sunday (17 September), reports Dawn. 

Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar and Chief of Army Staff Asim Munir were also present on the occasion.

Who is Justice Isa?

According to Dawn, born in Quetta on October 26, 1959, Justice Qazi Faez Isa is the son of the late Qazi Mohammad Isa of Pishin, who was at the forefront of the Pakistan Movement and a close associate of Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.\His father was the first person from the province to acquire a Bar-at-Law degree and helped establish the All India Muslim League in Balochistan after his return from London. His father had served as the only member on the Central Working Committee of the All India Muslim League from Balochistan.

Begum Saida Isa, Justice Isa's mother, was a social worker and worked in an honorary capacity on the boards of hospitals and other charitable organisations which focused on education, children and women's health issues.

After completing his primary and secondary education in Quetta, Isa moved to Karachi to finish his 'O' and 'A' levels at the Karachi Grammar School (KGS). He then went on to study law in London, where he completed his Bar Professional Examination from the Inns of Court School Law, London.

Justice Isa enrolled as an Advocate of the Balochistan High Court on January 30, 1985, and as an Advocate of the Supreme Court in March 1998.

He has practised law for over 27 years before 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.

During his career as a lawyer, Isa served as 'amicus curiae,' which translates to a friend of the court, on various occasions and provided assistance to high courts and the Supreme Court in a number of complicated cases.

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

In May 2019,  Isa faced a presidential reference, filed by the Imran Khan-led government, that alleged Justice Isa had acquired multiple properties in London in the name of his wife and children from 2011 to 2015, but did not declare them in the statement of his assets.

Justice Isa had contested the allegations and maintained he was neither directly nor indirectly a beneficial owner of the flats.

In June 2020, a 10-member Supreme Court bench nullified the presidential reference against Justice Isa, but seven of the judges on the bench ordered revenue authorities to seek an explanation from the judge's wife and children on the source of funding for the said properties.

Justice Isa won the case in 2021, which rendered the entire exercise by revenue authorities null and void.