The Regis-trar's Office of Supreme Court of Pakistan on Thursday received the notification issued by the Law and Justice Ministry for appointment of Justice Tasaduq Hussain Jillani as new Chief Justice of Pakistan. On the recommendation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, President Mamnoon Hussain had approved the nomination of Justice Jillani, the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court, to succeed Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, who retires on December 11 after serving for over a decade with a break of over one year and a half.

Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, known as a 'gentleman judge', will take oath at the presidency on December 12, 2013. His term as chief justice of Pakistan will be brief - six months - as he will reach the age of superannuation on July 6, 2014. He is related to former Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and foreign secretary Jalil Abbas Jillani.

After the 18th Constitutional Amendment, the slot of the Chief Justice of Pakistan has to automatically go to the senior-most judge after the retirement of the incumbent. Neither the President nor the Prime Minister or the government has any role in the nomination of the Chief Justice. The President is to administer oath to the new Chief Justice as per the Constitution.

Justice Jillani has a master's degree in political science from Forman Christian College, Lahore, and a law degree from the University of Punjab. He began his law practice in Multan in 1974, and was appointed assistant advocate general of the Punjab in 1979.

He was made advocate general Punjab in 1993. Jillani joined Lahore High Court (LHC) as a judge in 1994 and was elevated to Supreme Court in 2004. He was among the 60-odd judges sacked by former president Pervez Musharraf on November 03, 2007, who then returned to court in 2009 after the then government of PPP restored the judges of superior courts.

In a ruling earlier this year, Justice Jillani signalled a positive break from the judicial hyper-activism of recent years by declaring void a Lahore High Court verdict on the grounds that judges cannot legislate or intrude into the domain of the executive.

However, analysts argue against any major change after the retirement of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary. Former Justice Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui said that Iftikhar Chaudhry's retirement would not make any big difference in the working of the judges.

"I don't think there would be much of a change after Iftikhar Chaudhry's retirement as the members of his team will be still there...a whole team of judges who have been working with him will carry on with the same spirit after his retirement," he added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2013