Muhammad Javed Buttar

Muhammad Javed Buttar (Urdu: محمد جاوید بٹر‎) is a former justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, currently he is serving as a member of Board of Directors of National Asset Management Company Limited.

Early life

Minhas Moinudin Javed Buttar was born on 16 November 1948 in Kirto a village of District Sheikhupura. He belongs to a Minhas Buttar Jatt family. His father, Haji Muhammad Anwar Buttar, was a Senior Advocate of Supreme Court of Pakistan. His Brother Mr. N. Pervaiz A. Buttar is a practicing solicitor in Sydney, Australia.^[1]

Education and training

Buttar graduated from Government College, Lahore in 1967. He passed his L.L.B in 1969 from Punjab University Law College, Lahore.^[2]

He, as a lawyer, attended conference in Manila on the “Conflict Resolution of Philippines”. He also attended a Judicial Administration and Reform Course (JARC) in Sydney in the year 2002.^[2]

Professional career

Buttar joined the legal profession in 1971, became a High Court advocate in 1974 and then an advocate of the Supreme Court in 1985. On 7 August 1994 he was made a judge of Lahore High Court and ten years later became a judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.^[2]

Controversies

PCO 2007

On 3 November 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 Chief Justice 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.^[3] Justice Buttar was a sitting judge in Supreme Court of Pakistan choose to take the oath on PCO on 3 November 2007.^[4] He was one of the four Supreme Court judges from a total of 17, who took oath under the provisional constitution on 3 November 2007, despite a ruling by a 7 member bench regarding the suspension of constitution illegal. The other judges who took chose to take oath on PCO on 3 November 2007 were Abdul Hameed Dogar, Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi and Faqir Muhammad Khokhar.

On 24 November 2007, a seven panel bench of newly constituted supreme court, after imposition of PCO, validated the imposition of emergency and the promulgation of the Provisional Constitutional Order issued by the Chief of the Army Staff. The bench was headed by Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar. The other members were Justice Ejaz ul Hassan, Justice Muhammad Qaim Jan Khan, Justice Muhammad Moosa K Laghari, Justice Chaudhry Ejaz Yousaf, Justice Muhammad Akhtar Shabbir, and Justice Zia Pervez.

On 31 July 2009 a 14 panel court of Supreme Court held that PCO was illegal and decided to refer the cases of all justices of higher judiciary to Supreme Judicial Council for further action. Justice Buttar resigned before his cases was heard before Supreme Judicial Council.

Important cases

On 28 September 2007, M. Javed Buttar, along with Abdul Hameed Dogar, Javed Iqbal, Mohammad Nawaz Abbasi, Faqir Muhammad Khokhar, and Falak Sher formed a majority opinion in holding that petition challenging General Pervez Musharraf's candidature for the second term as the president as non maintainable. Head of the bench Justice Rana Bhagwandas, with two other members Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan and Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan dissented.^[3]

References