| Post: | Chief Justice of Pakistan |
| Native Name: | Munsif-e-Āzam Pākistān قاضیُ الْقُضاۃ |
| Insignia: | Emblem of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.svg |
| Insigniasize: | 100px |
| Insigniacaption: | Emblem of the SCP |
| Incumbent: | Qazi Faez Isa |
| Incumbentsince: | 17 September 2023 |
| Status: | Chief justice |
| Department: | Supreme Court of Pakistan |
| Style: | The Honorable Your Lordship Mr. Chief Justice |
| Seat: | Supreme Court Building, Red Zone, Islamabad |
| Nominator: | Prime Minister of Pakistan |
| Appointer: | President of Pakistan |
| Termlength: | Variable (until the age of 65) |
| Constituting Instrument: | Constitution of Pakistan |
| First: | Abdul Rashid |
The chief justice of Pakistan (initials as CJP; Urdu: {{Nastaliq|منصفِ اعظم پاکستان, Munsif-e-Āzam Pākistān) is the chief judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and is the highest-ranking officer of the Pakistani judiciary.[1] The officeholder is the senior most of 17 justices of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.[2]
The Federal Court of Pakistan was established by Governor-General Jinnah's Order in February 1948. Until 1956, the chief justice and senior justices were known by the title of 'Federal Judge', and the Federal Court of Pakistan operated out of a wing of the Lahore High Court, despite the federal capital's location in Karachi. The enactment of Pakistan's first constitution in March 1956 redesigned it as the 'Supreme Court of Pakistan.' [3]
The chief justice is the chief administrative officer of the country's court system and the highest judicial officer, ranking immediately above the chief justice of the Federal Shariat Court. He is responsible for supervising federal judicial policies, and conducting judicial business in the Supreme Court.[4] [5]
Nomination for the appointment of the chief justice is made by the prime minister of Pakistan, and final appointments are confirmed by the president of Pakistan.[6] [7] Presiding over the oral arguments before the court, the chief justice has significant agenda-setting power over meetings of the Supreme Court. In modern tradition, the chief justice has the ceremonial duty of administering the oath of office of the president of Pakistan.[8]
The first chief justice was Sir Abdul Rashid.[9] [10] The current chief justice is Qazi Faez Isa, incumbent since 17 September 2023.
Pakistan's longest-serving chief justice was Mohammad Haleem for total of 3,205 days. The shortest-serving chief justice was Muhammad Shahabuddin. Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry is the only justice to have served non-consecutive terms, for a total of three terms with total of 2,480 days.
DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyyPeriod = from:01/01/1949 till:30/12/2045TimeAxis = orientation:horizontalScaleMajor = unit:year increment:4 start:1949
Colors = id:app value:green legend: Appointed id:act value:red legend: Acting id:exp value:yellow legend: Expected
Legend = columns:3 left:150 top:24 columnwidth:100
TextData = pos:(20,27) textcolor:black fontsize:M text:"Chief Justice:"
BarData = barset:PM
PlotData= width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till barset:PM
from: 08/06/1949 till: 29/06/1954 color:app text:"Sir Mian Abdul Rashid" from: 30/06/1954 till: 02/05/1960 color:app text:"Muhammad Munir" from: 03/05/1960 till: 12/05/1960 color:app text:"Muhammad Shahabuddin" from: 13/05/1960 till: 29/02/1968 color:app text:"A. R. Cornelius" from: 01/03/1968 till: 03/06/1968 color:app text:"S. A. Rahman" from: 04/06/1968 till: 17/11/1968 color:app text:"Fazal Akbar" from: 18/11/1968 till: 31/10/1975 color:app text:"Hamoodur Rahman" from: 01/11/1975 till: 22/09/1977 color:app text:"Muhammad Yaqub Ali" from: 23/09/1977 till: 25/03/1981 color:app text:"S. Anwarul Haq" from: 26/03/1981 till: 31/12/1989 color:app text:"Mohammad Haleem" from: 01/01/1990 till: 18/04/1993 color:app text:"Muhammad Afzal Zullah" from: 19/04/1993 till: 14/04/1994 color:app text:"Nasim Hasan Shah" from: 16/04/1994 till: 04/06/1994 color:act text:"Saad Saud Jan" from: 05/06/1994 till: 02/12/1997 color:app text:"Sajjad Ali Shah" from: 03/12/1997 till: 30/06/1999 color:app text:"Ajmal Mian" from: 01/07/1999 till: 26/01/2000 color:app text:"Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui" from: 27/01/2000 till: 06/01/2002 color:app text:"Irshad Hasan Khan" from: 07/01/2002 till: 31/01/2002 color:app text:"Bashir Jehangiri" from: 01/02/2002 till: 31/12/2003 color:app text:"Sheikh Riaz Ahmad" from: 01/01/2004 till: 29/06/2005 color:app text:"Nazim Hussain Siddiqui" from: 30/06/2005 till: 09/03/2007 color:app text:"Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry" from: 10/03/2007 till: 24/03/2007 color:act text:"Javaid Iqbal" from: 25/03/2007 till: 20/07/2007 color:act text:"Rana Bhagwandas" from: 21/07/2007 till: 03/12/2007 color:app text:"Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry" from: 04/12/2007 till: 21/03/2009 color:black text:"Abdul Hameed Dogar" from: 21/03/2009 till: 11/12/2013 color:app text:"Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry" from: 13/12/2013 till: 05/07/2014 color:app text:"Tassadduq Hussain Jillani" from: 06/07/2014 till: 16/08/2015 color:app text:"Nasir-ul-Mulk" from: 17/08/2015 till: 09/09/2015 color:app text:"Jawwad S. Khawaja" from: 10/09/2015 till: 30/12/2016 color:app text:"Anwar Zaheer Jamali" from: 31/12/2016 till: 17/01/2019 color:app text:"Mian Saqib Nisar" from: 18/01/2019 till: 20/12/2019 color:app text:"Asif Saeed Khosa" from: 21/12/2019 till: 01/02/2022 color:app text:"Gulzar Ahmed" from: 02/02/2022 till: 16/09/2023 color:app text:"Umar Ata Bandial" from: 17/09/2023 till: 25/10/2024 color:app text:"Qazi Faez Isa" from: 26/10/2024 till: 04/08/2025 color:exp text:"Syed Mansoor Ali Shah" from: 05/08/2025 till: 13/12/2028 color:exp text:"Munib Akhtar" from: 14/12/2028 till: 22/01/2030 color:exp text:"Yahya Afridi"