Muhammad Bilal Khan
Encyclopedia
Muhammad Bilal Khan is a Justice in the Lahore High Court
Lahore High Court
The Lahore High Court is based in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. It was established as a high court on March 21, 1919. The Lahore High Court has jurisdiction over Punjab...

 in Pakistan.

Career

Khan was a practicing lawyer before the Supreme Court of Pakistan and the High Court. He has also served as an additional Advocate General of Punjab for almost four years.

Khan was appointed to the Lahore High Court on September 3, 2003, and remained in that position until March 6, 2009. On March 7, 2008, President Asif Ali Zardari
Asif Ali Zardari
Asif Ali Zardari is the 11th and current President of Pakistan and the Co-Chairman of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party . He is also the widower of Benazir Bhutto, who served two nonconsecutive terms as Prime Minister....

 of Pakistan appointed him as second Chief Justice of the Islamabad High Court
Islamabad High Court
-History:Islamabad High Court located in Islamabad the capital of Pakistan was established under a presidential order on December 14, 2007. However its creation was delayed because of the stay order issued by the Lahore High Court after its establishment was challenged there. But Supreme Court of...

, succeeding Sardar Muhammad Aslam
Sardar Muhammad Aslam
Sardar Muhammad Aslam is a former Justice of Lahore High Court, jurist and professional lawyer from Pakistan. He also was justice in Supreme Court of Pakistan, a former Chief Justice of Islamabad High Court. However, as result of Constitution Petition No. 09 Of 2009 and Constitution Petition No...

.

On July 31, 2009, a 14-person panel of the Supreme Court of Pakistan
Supreme Court of Pakistan
The Supreme Court is the apex court in Pakistan's judicial hierarchy, the final arbiter of legal and constitutional disputes. The Supreme Court has a permanent seat in Islamabad. It has number of Branch Registries where cases are heard. It has a number of de jure powers which are outlined in the...

 declared the creation of the Islamabad High Court to be unconstitutional. Khan returned to be a Justice of Lahore High Court. Since he took oath on PCO 2007 (see below), in contravention of a decision of a 7-person panel of the Supreme Court, he was referred to the Supreme Judicial Council of Pakistan
Supreme Judicial Council of Pakistan
The Supreme Judicial Council of Pakistan is a body of judges empowered under of the constitution of Pakistan to hear cases of misconduct against judges.-Composition:The composition of the Council is set out in the constitution as:* The Chief Justice...

.

PCO Oath

On November 3, 2007, the Chief of Staff of the Pakistani Army declared a state of emergency
2007 Pakistani state of emergency
A state of emergency was declared by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on November 3, 2007, and lasted until December 15, 2007,during which time the constitution of Pakistan was suspended....

 and issued a Provisional Constitutional Order
Provisional Constitutional Order
A Provisional Constitutional Order, or PCO, is an extra-constitutional order that suspends either wholly or partially the Constitution of Pakistan...

 (PCO). A 7-person panel of the Supreme Court issued an order declaring the state of emergency illegal and prohibiting all judges from taking oath on any PCO. Justice Khan was a sitting judge in Lahore High Court and choose to take the oath on November 3, 2007. Others of the 31 judges who took oath with him were Syed Zahid Hussain Bokhari, Nasim Sikandar, Khalid Alvi, Sakhi Hussain Bokhari, Muzammal Khan, Fazal-e-Miran Chohan, Syed Shabbar Raza Rizvi, Hamid Ali Shah, Tariq Shamim, Syed Asghar Haider, Hasnaat Ahmad Khan and Lahore High Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Hussain Chaudhry.

On July 31, 2009, a 14-person panel of the Supreme Court held that the PCO of November 3, 2007, was illegal. On November 2, 2007, they referred the cases of all judges who were members of the higher judiciary to the Supreme Judicial Council.

Land Allotment

According to a list presented to the National Assembly of Pakistan
National Assembly of Pakistan
The National Assembly of Pakistan is the lower house of the bicameral Majlis-e-Shura, which also compromises the President of Pakistan and Senate . The National Assembly and the Senate both convene at Parliament House in Islamabad...

 by the Federal Government Employees Foundation through the then-Housing Minister Syed Safwanullah
Syed Safwanullah
Syed Safwanullah is a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan and the Federal Minister of Housing and Works. He is a member of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement.Safwanullah's official car killed a six year old boy in 2007.- References :...

 on April 27, 2007, Khan is one of the 61 high court judges who were allotted plots in Sector G-14 of Islamabad.

Disqualification of Nawaz Sharif

On June 22, 2008, a three-member Lahore High Court bench composed of Justice M. Bilal Khan, Justice Abdul Shakoor Paracha and Justice Syed Shabbar Raza Rizvi, handed down a unanimous decision that disqualified Nawaz Sharif
Nawaz Sharif
Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif is a Pakistani conservative politician and steel magnate who served as 12th Prime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms from November 1990 to July 1993, and from February 1997 to October 12, 1999...

 from contesting a by-election. The Court last ruled that Sharif was not eligible to run in the upcoming parliamentary by-elections because he has been convicted of a crime. The Sharif brothers had refused to appear before the court and defend themselves, declaring that they did not recognize the justices' authority and labeling them "PCO Judges".

Relations with underground

In the judicial system of Pakistan, the Supreme Judicial Council is mandated to check misconduct, moral degradation and corruption in the higher echelons of the judiciary. For the first time in the country’s history, the Supreme Judicial Council has initiated suo motu proceedings against Khan over allegations of involvement in murky activities, including connections with the crime underworld.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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