Justice (r) Mian Shakirullah Jan retired in August 2012 after serving as a Judge of Supreme Court for about one decade. He remained Acting Chief Justice of Pakistan during the absence of Chief Justice of Pakistan.
Justice (r) Shakirullah Jan
Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan retired in August 2012 after serving as a Judge of Supreme Court for about one decade. He remained Acting Chief Justice of Pakistan during the absence of Chief Justice of Pakistan. He also remained acting Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan for several months. The full court reference in the Honour of Mian Shakirullah Jan was held on his retirement.
Justice Shakirullah Jan graduated from Islamia College, Peshawar. He obtained Law degree from the Khyber Law College, Peshawar University in 1972. He enrolled as advocate of Lower court in 1973 and of High Court in 1975. He enrolled as advocate of Supreme Court in 1980.
He was appointed Additional Advocate General, NWFP in July 1993. Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan was elevated as Additional Judge of Peshawar High Court on December 13, 1993. On April 28, 2000 he was appointed as Chief Justice of Peshawar High Court. He was elevated to the bench of Supreme Court of Pakistan July 29, 2004.
Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan has been: Elected unanimously Vice president of Peshawar Bar Association (1977–1978), Elected Secretary Peshawar High Court Bar Association (1979–1980), Elected unanimously Secretary of Peshawar Bar Association (1984–1985), Elected Vice President of Peshawar High Court Bar Association (1987–1988), Member of the Provincial Bar Council, NWFP Peshawar (1989–1993) and Member of the Executive Committee Supreme Court Bar Association (1993–1994)
On November 3, 2007 Chief of Amry Staff in Pakistan declared emergency and issued a Provisional Constitutional Order. A seven member panel of Supreme Court of Pakistan, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and consisting of Justice Rana Bhagwandas, Justice Javed Iqbal, Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk, Justice Raja Muhammad Fayyaz Ahmad, and Justice Ghulam Rabbani, issued an order that declared the declaration of emergency as illegal and prohibited all judges to take oath on any PCO.
Justice Jan refused to take oath on PCO. As the consequence of it, on December 4, 2007, he was declared to be no longer a justice of court and declared to be considered as retired with effect from November 3, 2007 without any retirement benefits.
On September 5, 2008 Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, Tassaduq Hussain Jillani and Syed Jamshed Ali, who were ousted as result of action of November 4, 2007 were reappointed to Supreme Court. They took a fresh oath of Office.
On September 28, 2007, a nine member bench of Supreme Court of Pakistan, in a 6-3 spilt verdict held that petition challenging General Pervez Musharraf candidature for the second term as the president as non maintainable. Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan along with head of bench Justice Rana Bhagwandas and Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan dissented with the majority opinion. Declaring the petition as non-maintainable were Javed Iqbal, Abdul Hameed Dogar, M. Javed Buttar, Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi, Faqir Muhammad Khokhar, and Falak Sher.
On 2 November 2007 Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan submitted an application to the Supreme Court asking that the Government be restrained from imposing martial law in Pakistan. To this application a seven panel Supreme Court bench issued a stay order on 3 November 2007 against the imposition of an emergency. The bench was headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry. The other members of the bench were Justice Rana Bhagwandas, Justice Javed Iqbal, Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, Justice Nasirul Mulk, Justice Raja Fayyaz, and Justice Ghulam Rabbani. This stay order was ignored by the Chief of Army Staff and the emergency was imposed across the country.