ISLAMABAD - Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa has been appointed as Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) and will assume charge of the office on January 18, 2019.
According to a notification issued by Ministry of Law and Justice, the President has appointed him as Chief Justice of Pakistan as he is the most senior judge of Supreme Court.
Born on December 21, 1954, Justice Khosa belongs to Dera Ghazi Khan. He passed his matriculation by securing fifth position in Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education Multan in 1969 and was awarded the National Talent Scholarship as well.
He passed his intermediate from Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Lahore in 1971 and secured first position in the board. He completed his BA in 1973 from Government College Lahore and secured first position.
Justice Khosa did his Master of Arts degree in English Language and Literature from the University of the Punjab in 1975, and completed his LL.M. (Master of Laws degree) from Queens’ College, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom in 1978 with specialisation in Public International Law in the subjects of the Law of Peace, the Law of War and Armed Conflict, the Law of International Institutions and the Law of Civil Liberties
He was enrolled as Advocate of the Lahore High Court on November 13, 1979 and as Advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan on September 12, 1985.
He handled thousands of cases of constitutional, criminal, civil, service, revenue and election laws as an Advocate Supreme Court and High Court. Over 600 cases conducted as an advocate by him had been reported in various law reports of the country. Justice Khosa also served as a Member of the Library Committee and Member of the Executive Committee of the Lahore High Court Bar Association, Lahore.
His first book was ‘Heeding the Constitution’ published in 1995, while second was ‘Constitutional Apologues’. He compiled ‘The Constitution of Pakistan, 1973’ with all amendments up to date published in 1989 and reprinted every year.
His other books are ‘Judging with Passion’ and `Breaking New Ground’ (in the process of completion). He remained Chief Editor of Key Law Reports (KLR) from 1989 to 1998.
He contributed scores of articles and research papers on diverse constitutional and legal issues published in major law reports and newspapers of the country since 1988.
He has vast teaching experience and served as part-time lecturer of Constitutional Law at the University Law College, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan from 1982 to 1985, part-time lecturer of Constitutional Law at the Punjab University Law College, Lahore from 1986 to 1992, part-time lecturer of Constitutional Law at the Punjab Law College, Lahore from 1995 to 1996, part-time lecturer of Constitutional Law at the Pakistan College of Law, Lahore from 1996 to 1998 and visiting lecturer of Constitutional Law at the Civil Services Academy, Lahore; National Institute of Public Administration (NIPA), Lahore; National Police Academy, Islamabad; Staff Training Institute of the Services and General Administration Department of the Government of the Punjab; Training Course for Civil Judges conducted by the Lahore High Court, Lahore; and the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS).
He was appointed as a judge of the Lahore High Court (a court of appeal which is the second highest court of the country) on May 21, 1998. He was appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court on February 18, 2010 and serving in that capacity till date.
He had also acted as the Chief Justice of Pakistan from June 05, 2017 to June 11, 2017, June 29, 2017 to July 05, 2017, May 14, 2018 to May 30, 2018 and December 17, 2018 to December 23, 2018.
He has decided about 55,000 cases over a period of more than 19 and a half years so far and attended, represented Pakistan in international conferences, seminars and symposia held in Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, Canada, Tanzania, United Kingdom, Mauritius, Malaysia, Nigeria, Turkey, Scotland, Republic of Ireland, Bermuda, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, United States of America, Japan, Italy and Tobago and Trinidad.