Taking oath to promising the constitution to establish a justice-based society is the foremost characteristic of a judge who speaks to everyone through his verdicts so as from today there would be another judge of the top court who is expected to speak through his verdicts in the days ahead.
The Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Gulzar Ahmed on Monday administered the oath of office to Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, former Chief Justice High Court of Balochistan as judge of the top court who has dispensed justice without fear or favour within four corners of law across the board during his tenure as chief judge of the provincial high court.
The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) in July approved the name of the Balochistan High Court Chief Justice for elevation to the Supreme Court. After a passage of seven years, a BHC judge is being elevated to the apex court. Earlier, Justice Qazi Faez Isa was elevated to the Supreme Court in September 2014.
Advocate High Court Umer Ijaz Gilani, who had been appearing before Balochistan High Court while representing a number of cases, told TLTP that elevation of Chief Justice Mandokhail to the Supreme Court of Pakistan is as well-deserved as there can be.
Gilani said in the capacity of Chief Justice of Balochistan High Court, Justice Mandokhail announced various decisions in the area of public finance, NFC award, public sector development spending process and others won him national fame.
A year ago, a bench of the Balochistan High Court led by Chief Justice Mandokhail annulled a notification issued by President Dr Arif Alvi for constitution of the 10th National Finance Commission (NFC), ruling that the appointment of NFC members was not in accordance with the constitution.
Likewise, in response to a hallmark judgment of Justice Mandokhail, Balochistan government assured that engineers would be appointed as project directors instead of bureaucrats in strict adherence to the Pakistan Engineering Council Act 1979 after due diligence to oversee multi-billion rupees infrastructure development projects in the province.
Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail had attended different orientations on Judicial Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards and the Arbitration of Commercial Disputes under the ICSID Arbitration Rules during his visit to the USA in 2010.
Advocate Gilani expressed that Justice Mandokhail judgments upholding tribal ownership of unsettled land and curtailing DHA’s land acquisition powers – reflect a deep appreciation of constitutional rights as well as moral courage.
“I had the pleasure of appearing before His Lordship in a number of cases concerning engineering and public procurement laws. I was surprised by his deep acumen in this field of law. Besides being knowledgeable, he has a warm and humble demeanor, which has made him one of the most well-loved judges of the country”, Advocate Gilani concluded.
