The Peshawar High Court (PHC, ) is the provincial and highest judicial institution of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan. It is located in the provincial capital Peshawar. The Parliament passed a bill extending the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court (SC) and the Peshawar High Court to Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), one of a handful of reforms paving the way for a merger of the tribal areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

History During the last days of the 19th century, the viceroy of India Lord Curzon (1899–1905), proposed the creation of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province (then NWFP) which was approved by the Secretary of State for India, Lord George F. Hamilton, on 20 December 1900.History

The province was formally founded on 9 November 1901, (the King's birthday) had to get one Judicial Commissioner. The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Law and Justice Regulation No. VII of 1901 was enacted by the Governor-General-in-Council, under section 3 of the Government of India Act, 1854, in order to establish judicial institutions.

Notable Historical Administration In the late 20th century (1980s–1990s), the administration and regional benches of the judiciary saw senior judicial officers from the southern districts serving in key positions. Notably, **Judge Ghazi Khan Durrani (sadozai)**, hailing from the Sadozai clan of Bannu, served as a senior District & Sessions Judge presiding over courts in Dera Ismail Khan (D.I. Khan) and Bannu, and was subsequently elevated to the administrative rank of Registrar / Additional Registrar of the Peshawar High Court.

Current formation The Constitution of Pakistan, 1973 provides that Peshawar High Court shall have a Bench each at Abbottabad and Dera Ismail Khan. Article 199 of the Constitution lays down in detail the jurisdiction of the High Court. The jurisdiction was more or less the same as provided under the Constitution of 1956 and further detailed under the Constitution of 1962.

The Constitution of Pakistan, 1956, Article 170, states that:

"Notwithstanding anything contained in Article 22, each High Court shall have power throughout the territories in relation to which it exercise jurisdiction, to issue to any person or authority, including in appropriate cases any Government directions, orders or writs, including writs in the nature of habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, quo warranto and certiorari, for the enforcement of any of the rights conferred by Part II and for any other purpose."

Justices of Peshawar High Court High Court is headed by a Chief Justice. The bench consist of Justices and additional judges. The retirement age of Chief Justice and Justices is 62 years. The Additional Judges are initially appointed for one year. After that their services could either be extended or they could be confirmed or they are retired. The current Chief Justice of the Peshawar High Court is Justice Syed Muhammad Attique Shah.

Current composition The Peshawar High Court is currently made up of the following Justices (in order of seniority). No.NameAppointmentRetirementNote(s)1Syed Muhammad Attique Shah27 March 201711 October 2030Chief Justice since 14 February 20252Ijaz Anwar27 March 201714 January 2030Senior Pusine Judge since 15 April 20243Syed Arshad Ali16 June 20179 April 20334Sahibzada Asadullah19 August 201915 April 20345Naeem Anwar19 August 201914 June 20346Waqar Ahmed Khan19 August 201919 March 20367Babar Sattar30 December 202014 February 2038Transferred from IHC on 29th April 20268Kamran Hayat Miankhel11 February 20226 April 20329Muhammad Ijaz Khan11 February 202215 April 203410Muhammad Faheem Wali11 February 202231 July 203511Dr. Khurshid Iqbal18 July 202231 March 203012Muhammad Tariq Afridi4 February 202526 December 202813Abdul Fayyaz4 February 202531 December 203114Salah ud Din4 February 202524 February 203715Sadiq Ali4 February 202519 March 203916Syed Mudasser Ameer4 February 20255 April 203917Qazi Jawad Ehsanullah4 February 202517 April 204018Farah Jamshed4 February 20251 January 203219Inam Ullah Khan4 February 202530 September 202920Sabit Ullah Khan4 February 202531 December 203321Aurangzeb4 February 202524 December 203922Vacant23Vacant24Vacant25Vacant26Vacant27Vacant28Vacant29Vacant30Vacant

Provisional Constitutional Order 25 March 1981 Muhammad Daud Khan - Refused PCO Karimullah Duranni - Refused PCO

Provisional Constitutional Order 26 January 2000 Javed NawazGandapur - Did not take oath under PCO Muhammad Nawaz Khan - Did not take oath under PCO Mian Muhammad Ajmal - Take oath under PCO was Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza - Take oath under PCO Khalida Rasheed - Take oath under PCO Mian Shakirullah Jan - Take oath under PCO Nasir ul Mulk - Take oath under PCO Abdul Rauf Laghmani - Take oath under PCO Shahzad Akbar - Take oath under PCO Talaat Qayum Qureshi - Take oath under PCO Malik Hamid Saeed - Take oath under PCO Shah Jehan Yousafzai - Take oath under PCO

Provisional Constitutional Order 3 November 2007 Tariq Parvez Khan - Didn't take Oath under PCO later elevated to the Supreme Court Ijaz Afzal - Did not take oath under PCO later elevated to the Supreme Court Dost Muhammad Khan - Didn't Take Oath under PCO (Elevated to the Supreme court (Feb:01.2014) Shah Jehan Khan Yousafzai - Retired as Judge of High Court after superseded Talaat Qayyum Qureshi - Take oath under PCO and become chief justice Ijazul Hassan Khan - Elevated to the Supreme court Muhammad Qaim Jan Khan - Elevated to the Supreme court M. Salim Khan - Take oath under PCO Muhammad Raza - Take oath under PCO Jehan Zaib Rahim - Take oath under PCO Raj Muhammad Khan Khattak - Take oath under PCO Said Maroof Khan - Take oath under PCO Hamid Farooq Durrani - Take oath under PCO Syed Sajjad Hassan Shah - Take oath under PCO Judges appointed after PCO Shaji-ur-Rehman Khan Khattak Ghulam Mohiuddin Malik Syed Yahya Gilani Ziauddin Khattak Syed Musadiq Hussain Gilani

List of former chief justices of Peshawar High Court Bashir-ud-Din Ahmad Khan - 1-7-1970 to 24–5–1972 S. Ghulam Safdar Shah - 25-5-1972 to 31–10–1976 Abdul Hakeem Khan Lughmani Swati - 1-11-1976 to 3–10–1979 Shah Nawaz Khan (Chief Justice) - 3-10-1979 to 5–4–1981 Mian Burhan-ud-Din - 5-4-1981 to 17–12–1981 Syed Usman Ali Shah - 19-12-1981 to 7–12–1987 Sardar Fakhre Alam - 7-12-1987 to 7–2–1991 Fazal Ilahi Khan - 9-2-1991 to 1–4–1993 Abdul Karim Khan Kundi - 1-4-1993 to 24–1–1995 Syed Ibne Ali - 25-1-1995 to 28–2–1997 Abdur Rehman Khan - 1-3-1997 to 3–11–1997 Mahbub Ali Khan - 4-11-1997 to 11–5–1999 Qazi Muhammad Farooq - 12-5-1999 to 5–1–2000 Mian Muhammad Ajmal - 6-1-2000 to 27–4–2000 Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan - 28-4-2000 to 9–1–2002 Mian Shakirullah Jan - 10-1-2002 to 30–7–2004 Nasir-ul-Mulk - 31-7-2004 to 5–4–2005 Tariq Pervez Khan - 5-4-2005 to 03–11–2007 Talat Qayyum Qureshi - 3-11-2007 to 18–01–2008 Muhammad Raza Khan - 21-01-2008 to 07–08–2008 Jehan Zaib Rahim - 8-8-2008 to 5–09–2008 Tariq Parvez Khan - 5-9-2008 to 20–10–2009 Ejaz Afzal Khan Khankhail Swati - 20-10-2009 to 16–11–2011 Dost Muhammad Khan - 17-11-2011 to 31–01–2014 Mian Fasih-ul-Mulk - 31-01-2014 to 07–04–2014 Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel - 8-04-2014 to 29–12–2016 Yahya Afridi - 30-12-2016 to 27–06–2018 Waqar Ahmed Seth(late) - 28 June 2018 to 12 November 2020. Qaiser Rashid Khan - 16-11-2020 to 30–3–2023 Musarrat Hilali - 1-4-2023 to 4–7–2023

List of former justices of Peshawar High Court Bashir-ud-Din Ahmad Khan Ghulam Safdar Shah Sher Bahadur Khan Shah Zaman Babar Kareemullah Durrani Abdul Hakim Khan Shah Nawaz Khan Mian Burhanuddin S. Usman Ali Shah Sardar Fakhre Alam Ali Hussain Qazilbash Fazal Ilahi Khan Abdur Rehman Khan Kaif Fazal Ellahi Khan Abdul Karim Khan Kundi Nazir Ahmad Bhatti Muhammad Bashir Jehangiri (Not retired from PHC) Qazi Hamiduddin Salim Dil Khan (Died during service) Khalida Rashid (Not retired from PHC) Jawaid Nawaz Khan Gandapur Shah Jehan Khan Qazi Ehsanullah Qureshi Malik Hamid Saeed Talaat Qayyum Qureshi (Died during service) Shahzad Akbar Khan Ijazul Hassan Khan Muhammad Qaim Jan Khan Raj Muhammad Khan Said Maroof Khan Hamid Farooq Durrani Khalid Mahmood (Reversed) Attaullah Khan Miftah-Ud-Din Khan Assadullah Khan Chammkani Irshad Qaiser Muhammad Daud Khan Nisar Hussain Khan Muhammad Younas Thaheem Qalandar Ali Khan Muhammad Ghazanfar Khan Muhammad Ayub Khan Syed Afsar Shah Ikramullah Khan Nasir Mehfooz Lal Jan Khattak Rooh Ul Amin Khan

See also Supreme Court of Pakistan Islamabad High Court Balochistan High Court Sindh High Court Lahore High Court Court system of Pakistan

References

External links official website of Peshawar HighCourt