Nazim Hussain Siddiqui

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Nazim Hussain Siddiqui bigraphy, stories - Pkistani judge

Nazim Hussain Siddiqui : biography

June 30, 1940 –

Nazim Hussain Siddiqui (Urdu: ) served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, from December 31, 2003 to June 29, 2005.

Life

Justice Siddiqui was born on June 30, 1940. His father was Late Mukarram Hussain Siddiqui. He did his BA, LLB from the University of Hyderabad and LLM from the University of Karachi.

He practised at Hyderabad from 1961 to 1967. During his career, Justice Siddiqui served as civil judge, senior civil judge, additional district and sessions judge, district and sessions judge at Sukkur and Dadu, registrar of the SHC twice, customs judge thrice, special judge anti-corruption, special judge Banking Court, chairman Commercial Court and Drug Court, member Appellate Insurance Tribunal, presiding officer Labour Court, member Supreme Appellate Court/Tribunal, chairman Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi, and member Board of Governors of Indus Valley School of Karachi.

Presently, he was also serving as chairman Central Zakat Council of [Pakistan. Member, Board of Governors of the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi; Member, Selection Board of the Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.

Justice Nazim Hussain Siddiqui took oath as the new Chief Justice of Pakistan soon after President Pervez Musharraf’s Constitutional Amendment which came to be known as the Seventeenth Amendment. Ten judges of the superior courts stood retired, including Supreme Court Chief Justice Sheikh Riaz Ahmad, who was replaced by Justice Nazim Hussain Siddiqui.

The president named Justice Nazim Hussain Siddiqui as the Chief Justice of Pakistan for being the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and administered oath to him at the presidential camp office in Rawalpindi. The oath-taking ceremony was also attended by the then Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali besides federal ministers, services chiefs, members of Parliament, judges of the Supreme Court and senior lawyers.

Justice Siddiqui, who belongs to Sindh, was appointed judge of the Sindh High Court (SHC) in March 1992 and became chief justice of the Sindh High Court (SHC) in 1999. He was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan on February 4, 2000.

Famous cases

Case against Pervez Musharraf

Chief Justice Nazim Hussain Siddiqui dismissed the constitutional petitions against General Pervez Musharraf’s uniform saying that the reasons of the decision would be told in the detailed judgment. Later Supreme Court of Pakistan announced a detailed judgement in 6 constitutional petitions regarding Seventeenth Amendment and said that this court must have due regard for the democratic mandate given to Parliament by the people. The full bench of the Apex Court heard the case and announced short orders on April 13, 2005 after hearing the case for six days. However, it did say,

It is not for this court to substitute its views for those expressed by legislators or strike down statutes on consideration of what it deems good for the people. This court is and always has been the judge of what is constitutional but not of what is wise or good. The latter is the business of Parliament, which is accountable to the people.

Former Chief Justice of Pakistan Nasim Hasan Shah giving his remarks in a TV program said that,

The military holds the rifle and the court cannot go against the rifle.

Responding to that, Chief Justice Nazim Hussain Siddiqui remarked that personal opinion of an individual could not be attributed to the whole judiciary.

Shahbaaz Sharif’s return to Lahore

Chief Justice Nazim Hussain Siddiqui took the petition of former Punjab chief minister regarding permission to return to Pakistan. The court had issued notices to the federal government, the Punjab government and the director immigration for their comments on two petitions filed by Shahbaz Sharif. The short orders read,

"For reasons to be recorded later on, both these petitions are dismissed with an observation that the petitioner may come back from abroad subject to the law of the country."