PESHAWAR: Change of guard is taking place at a top court of Pakistan as Justice Fasihul Mulk is to replace Justice Dost Khan as chief justice of the Peshawar High Court.
Khan, who served as the chief justice for 26 months, has been proposed for appointment as judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The recommendations were made by the Judicial Commission, official sources said here yesterday.
Mulk, who belongs to Charsadda district and was born on April 8, 1952, is presently the senior most judge of Peshawar High Court. He is due to retire from service in April 2014 and would, therefore, remain the chief justice for four months only. He was elevated to the bench as additional judge on September 7, 2009 and was confirmed as permanent judge on September 7, 2011.
As a PHC judge Mulk remained monitoring judge of Anti-Terrorism Courts, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Administrative Judge of Anti-Terrorism Courts at Peshawar, chairman, subordinate judiciary KP Services Tribunal, chairman KP Labour Appellate Tribunal, chairman KP Bar Council Enrolment Committee, chairman Purchase Committee of PHC, and member Election Tribunal for the May 2013 general election.
Khan, who was born on March 20, 1953, remained in the spotlight as he frequently took suo moto notice of cases involving violation of human rights and adopted a tough stance on the issue of missing persons. In the process, he brought into the dock senior government officials and officers of the security forces and intelligence agencies.
Several people were released due to his directives to authorities and more than 1,500 detainees suspected to be militants were shifted to the internment centres.
To provide free and expeditious justice to poor and helpless, he started the first mobile court in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It decided more than 140 cases in three visits to suburban areas and decided within hours certain cases that had been running for the past 10 years in regular courts. The chief justice also established the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Judicial Academy, which is imparting legal education and training to judges, lawyers, prosecutors and other staff related to the judiciary.
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