PESHAWAR: On Saturday, Justice Musarrat Hilali became the acting chief justice of the Peshawar High Court (PHC), taking the oath of office from Governor K-P Haji Ghulam Ali.
Justice Hilali, the first woman chief justice of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), was joined at the ceremony by the caretaker chief minister, ministers, judges, and lawyers of the PHC.
Previous Accomplishments of Justice Hilali
Justice Hilali has a distinguished record of public service. She served as the first woman additional advocate general of K-P from November 2001 to March 2004, and later became the first woman chairperson of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Environmental Protection Tribunal. She also served as the first female ombudsperson for the Protection against Harassment of Women at Workplace.
Career and Achievements of Justice Hilali
Born in Peshawar on August 8, 1961, Justice Hilali received her law degree from Peshawar University’s Khyber Law College. She became an advocate of district courts in 1983, an advocate of the high court in 1988, and an advocate of the Supreme Court in 2006. Justice Hilali was the first woman to be elected as the secretary of the Peshawar Bar Association in 1988, and later served as the vice president of the bar twice from 1992-1994 and as the general secretary of the bar from 1997-1998.
Justice Hilali made history as the first woman to be elected twice as an executive member of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) from 2007-2008 and 2008-2009. She was elevated to the bench as an additional judge on March 26, 2013, and confirmed as a permanent judge of the PHC on March 13, 2014.
Retirement
According to the seniority list of the high court, Justice Hilali is set to retire on August 7, 2023.
(Islamabad51-Newsdesk)
