Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry

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Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry bigraphy, stories - Pakistani judge

Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry : biography

12 December 1948 –

Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, (), (born 12 December 1948), is the 18th and the incumbent Chief Justice of Pakistan, having been nominated by former President General Pervez Musharraf on 30 June 2005, prior to his suspension on 3 November 2007.

His notable rulings including the suo motu notice of controversial privatization of the Pakistan Steel Mills, leading the case of missing persons in Balochistan, arguing and issuing orders against the New Murree project regarding as environmental catastrophe, ruling the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) as unconstitutional and irrelevant. Recently, after proceeding the notice of contempt against the Prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani who forcefully refusing to direct a letter to Swiss authorities over President’s hidden assets in Swiss Banks, Chaudry retroactively discharged and ousted Gillani and his government on April 26, 2012.

Awards and honors

In the wake of the imposition of emergency rule in Pakistan, on 14 November 2007, the Harvard Law School decided to award its highest honour, the Medal of Freedom, to Justice Chaudhry, following the military crackdown the previous week. He becomes the first Pakistani to be presented with such honour and a third person in world to receive this award other than Nelson Mandela and Oliver Hill.

Chief Justice Chaudhry formally received the Harvard Law School Medal of Freedom during his visit to the United States in November, 2008. in the Harvard Law Record, 20 November 2008

The National Law Journal picked Chaudhry as the lawyer of the year for 2007.

The Association of the Bar of the City of New York granted Chaudhry an honorary membership in the association on 17 November 2008, recognizing him as a "symbol of the movement for judicial and lawyer independence in Pakistan." In 2012 Chaudhry was named among the 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine.

On May 29, 2012, Chaudhry and Indian Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav were awarded the prestigious International Jurists Award 2012. The News International, May 29, 2012

Chaudhry received the award from Lord Phillips, President of the Supreme Court of the UK, for his "unique and tremendous contribution in the field of administration of justice and for the tireless and fearless endeavours towards administration of justice in Pakistan against all odds." Geo News Pakistan, May 29, 2012

Controversies

Dismissal of petition challenging Legal Framework Order (LFO) 2002

Just prior to the holding of the October 2002 General Elections a five member bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, that Chaudhry was a member of, dismissed a petition which challenged the promulgation of the Legal Framework Order(LFO)2002 by President Musharraf. Under the LFO Musharraf announced amendments to the constitution which restored executive powers to the President, including the right to dismiss the National Assembly, appoint Governors and Service Chiefs and created a National Security Council (NSC).http://www.supremecourt.gov.pk/web/user_files/File/JR_Judgment_on_Legal_Framework_Order_2002.pdf The main controversy started in 2009 after restoration of all Judges, the Oath taking of Judges on PCO in past was then declared crime by the same Judges who has taken oath on PCO in the past.

Judgement on 17th Amendment and President’s Uniform Case 2005

On 13 April 2005, in the "Judgment on 17th Amendment and President’s Uniform Case", Chaudhry was one of five Supreme Court judges who dismissed all petitions challenging President Musharraf’s consistitutional amendments. In a wide ranging judgement they declared that the Legal Framework Order (LFO) instituted by General Musharraf after his suspension of the constitution, the 17th amendment which gave this constitutional backing, and the two offices bill which allowed Musharraf to retain his military uniform whilst being President were all legal because the Parliament had approved the amendments.

Supreme Court justices