Abdul Hameed Dogar

Abdul Hameed Dogar
عبدالحمید ڈوگر
Chief Justice of Pakistan
In office
3 November 2007  21 March 2009
Appointed by Pervez Musharraf
Preceded by Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry
Succeeded by Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry
Personal details
Born 22 March 1944
Gaarhi Mori, British Raj
(now Pakistan)
Alma mater University of the Punjab

Abdul Hameed Dogar (Urdu: [1] عبدالحمید ڈوگر) is a Pakistani jurist who served as the former Justice of Sindh High Court,[2] before being appointed Chief Justice of Pakistan by President Pervez Musharraf, after he dismissed the superior judiciary and declared emergency rule in 2007.[2][3]

Following Musharraf's resignation and the general elections of 2013, the judiciary was restored in 2009. On 31 July 2009, the Supreme Court of Pakistan ruled that the taking oath on PCO was not legal and that Justice Dogar was never a Constitutional Chief Justice of Pakistan as the office of the Chief Justice of Pakistan was never vacant by the de jure Chief Justice, hence treated him the de facto Chief Justice of Pakistan by protecting his all administrative, financial acts and any oath made before him in the ordinary course of affairs of the office of the Chief Justice of Pakistan, except the recommendations made by him in respect of appointments and reappointments for the offices of the superior judges.[4] Following the Proclamation of Emergency]] by General Pervez Musharraf as Chief of Army Staff, on 3 November 2007.,[5] Justice Dogar took oath on Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) and was administered the oath of office of Chief Justice of Pakistan.[6]

Life

Dogar was born in the village of Gaarhi Mori, in Khairpur district, Sindh province.[7]

He passed LL.B. from Law College, Punjab University in 1969. He enrolled as Advocate in 1970 and practised law for 25 years before elevation to judiciary.[2]

He also attended Third Lawyers Courses/Lectures in Shariah (Islamic Law Course) in 1991 in International Islamic University Islamabad, Al-Azhar University (Cairo) Egypt, Macca and Madina University, Saudi Arabia.[2]

Posts held in Bar

Posts held in other fields

Judicial career

Mr Dogar joined the judicial service on 10 April 1995 with an appointment to the Sindh High Court.[2]

He was elevated to the Supreme Court on 28 April 2000.[2][9]

Following the Proclamation of Emergency by Chief of Army Staff[6] General Pervez Musharraf, Dogar was appointed as Chief Justice of Pakistan.[5] He took oath on Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) on 3 November 2007.[5][10] Earlier a 7-member bench of the Supreme Court had overturned the PCO.[11] Dogar was one of the only four sitting judges in Supreme Court who immediately took oath under the PCO 2007 on 3 November 2007, when the majority of Supreme Court judges refused to take oath under the PCO.[5] The others judges who took the PCO oath with him were Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi, Faqir Muhammad Khokhar and M. Javed Buttar.[5] Later in the evening, in Karachi Saiyed Saeed Ashhad also took oath on PCO on 3 November 2007.[12]

Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar took a new oath on 15 December 2007, this time on the constitution.[13]

He retired from Supreme Court on 21 March 2009.[3]

On 31 July 2009, in a landmark verdict, the Supreme Court of Pakistan termed as illegal and unconstitutional the appointment of Abdul Hammed Dogar as Chief Justice.[14]

Controversies

Oath on PCO 1999

On January 26, 2000, the higher judiciary was asked to take fresh oath of office under the PCO 1999 by the Chief Executive General Pervez Musharraf.[15] Justice Dogar as the sitting judge of Sindh High Court took oath.[15] On 31 July 2009 the Supreme court of Pakistan unanimously declared in a judgement that Musharff's act of 3 November 2007 to impose the emergency as a Chief of Army Staff was unconstitunal and unlawfull. Consequently in the absence of consulations made by the Dejure Chief Justice of Pakistan, all the nominations made by the Defacto Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar during his tenure were held to be null and void.

PCO 2007 Oath and Appointment as Chief Justice of Pakistan

On 3 November 2007, the then Chief of the Army Staff Gen. Pervez Musharaf declared emergency in Pakistan and issued a Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO). A seven bench supreme court bench headed by the Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry issued an order that declared emergency illegal and ordered that no judge shall take oath on PCO.[16]

Mr. Dogar along with 3 other judges immediately took the oath under PCO. Mr Dogar was appointed as the Chief Justice of this newly constituted Supreme Court[5] . On 23 November 2007, Mr Dogar and the newly constituted bench consisting of Ijaz-ul-Hassan Khan, Muhammad Qaim Jan Khan, Musa K. Leghari, Ch. Ijaz Yousaf, Muhammad Akhtar Shabbir and Zia Pervez declared that all judges, including the then Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who did not take oath on PCO, are deemed to have been removed from the bench[17] .[18]

In a later development, on 3 December 2007 federal government issued notification of removal of three justices of Supreme Court without any retirement privileges. They were: Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Rana Bhagwandas and Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday.[19]

On 21 March 2009 when Mr. Justice Dogar retired from the bench as the Chief Justice of Pakistan,[3] the Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who was declared to have ceased to hold the office by the bench headed by Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar,[18] was notified as restored to bench as Chief Justice.[3] Since Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry after 3 November 2007 was not re-appointed as Justice[20] and also never re-took oath of office,[20] legality of appointment of Mr Dogar as Chief Justice is questionable and Mr Dogar is considered as a De facto Chief Justice rather than De Jure[20][21][22][23]

Bank loan

Mr. Justice Dogar Purchased a house which was already on loan granted to earlier owner. Thus, the same liability was transferred on him. A loan of Rs. 8.93 million from the National Bank of Pakistan has been paid by him and nothing is outstanding any more[24]

Reassessment of daughter's FSC results

An investigative report by Daily News found out that Justice Dogar's daughter Farah Hameed Dogar examination paper for F.Sc. were reassessed in violation of previous Supreme Court rulings.[25] While the results of 201 candidates were revised only for Farah were the examination papers re-marked and the numbers increased. In the other 200 cases, only errors in adding the total marks were corrected.[26]

References

  1. شہزاد ملک (20 March 2009). "جسٹس ڈوگر کا آخری دن". BBC News (Urdu). Retrieved 22 April 2008.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 Supreme Court Report Golden Jubilee Edition 2006, pages 15–16 (21–22)]
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "Dogar retires, Iftikhar to resume duties today". RushmoreDrive. 21 March 2009. Retrieved 19 April 2009.
  4. Supreme Court Decision CONSTITUTION PETITION NO. 09 and 08 OF 2009
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 "Justice Dogar new CJ; a number of judges opt out". Dawn. 4 November 2007. Archived from the original on 5 September 2008. Retrieved 24 September 2008.
  6. 6.0 6.1 Rohde, David (3 November 2007). "Musharraf Declares State of Emergency". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 April 2009.
  7. "People of The Year". The Financial Daily (http://www.thefinancialdaily.com/). Retrieved 21 April 2008.
  8. Supreme Court Annual Report 2004
  9. APP (26 April 2000). "Supreme Court judges' strength completed". Karachi Page. Retrieved 22 April 2008.
  10. "Hameed Dogar sworn in as new Pakistan Chief Justice". Thaindian News. 4 November 2007. Retrieved 24 September 2008.
  11. "Seven judges reject PCO before being sent home". Dawn. 4 November 2007. Retrieved 24 September 2008.
  12. Associated Press of Pakistan (3 November 2007). "سپریم کورٹ کے مسٹر جسٹس سید سعید اشہد نے پی سی او کے تحت حلف اٹھا لیا". Associated Press of Pakistan. Retrieved 21 April 2009.
  13. "14 Supreme Court, 4 FSC judges take oath under Constitution". Jang Group of Newspapers#Daily News. 15 December 2007. Retrieved 24 April 2009.
  14. |url=http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=84013 |date=31 July 2009 |url=http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=84013
  15. 15.0 15.1 "Justice Irshad replaces Justice Saeeduzzaman as Chief Justice of Pakistan". Apna Karachi. 4 November 2007. Retrieved 22 April 2009.
  16. "Justice Iftikhar 'stayed' emergency, PCO". Daily Times (Pakistan). 4 November 2007.
  17. "SC hands out clean chit to Musharraf : •Emergency, PCO validated •Deposed judges criticised". Dawn. 23 November 2007. Retrieved 3 April 2009.
  18. 18.0 18.1 "SC issues detailed verdict validating PCO, emergency". Pakistan Observer. 15 February 2008. Retrieved 3 April 2009.
  19. "Pak formally sacks deposed SC judges including Chaudhry". ZEE NEWS. 5 December 2007. Retrieved 21 April 2009.
  20. 20.0 20.1 20.2 "No new oath for Pakistani judge". BBC NEWS. 17 March 2009. Archived from the original on 21 March 2009. Retrieved 20 April 2009.
  21. Muhammad Waqas Malik (17 March 2009). "Confusion Between Dejure & Defacto". National Co-ordination of Councils. Retrieved 20 April 2009..
  22. "Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry to be restored as Chief Justice of Pakistan". Geo.tv. 15 November 2008. Retrieved 15 November 2008.
  23. "Zardari says he was waiting for Dogar's retirement to reinstate Chaudhry". The GAEA NEWS. 17 March 2009. Retrieved 20 April 2009.
  24. Khaleeq Kiani. NBP deviates from ‘Saibaan’ policy 12 February 2008
  25. Ansar Abbasi. CJ's daughter has a head start over thousands 25 November 2008
  26. FBISE clarifies, The News rebuts 26 November 2008

External links

Legal offices
Preceded by
Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry
Chief Justice of Pakistan
Acting

2007–2009
Succeeded by
Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry