Justice Chaudhry Muhammad Sharif (جسٹس چوہدری محمد شریف) (March 10, 1928 - June 29, 2009) was a prominent judge of the

Lahore High Court The Lahore High Court () is based in Lahore, Pakistan. It was established as a high court on 21 March 1882. The Lahore High Court has jurisdiction over Punjab (Pakistan). The High Court's principal seat is in Lahore, but there are benches in th ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

Early life

Justice Sharif was born in a village near

Hoshiarpur Hoshiarpur () is a city and a Municipal corporations in India, municipal corporation in Hoshiarpur district in the Doaba region of the Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab. It was founded, according to tradition, during the early part of the ...

district (

East Punjab East Punjab (known simply as Punjab from 1950) was a province and later a state of India from 1947 until 1966, consisting of the parts of the Punjab Province of British India that went to India following the partition of the province between ...

) on March 10, 1928. At the time of partition of India, he was a student in the Government College

. After migrating to

, he completed his education from SE College in

Bahawalpur Bahawalpur () is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. With inhabitants as of 2017, it is Pakistan's 11th most populous city. Founded in 1748, Bahawalpur was the capital of the former princely state of Bahawalpur, ruled by the Abbasi fa ...

and the

University of Punjab The University of the Punjab (Urdu, pnb, ), also referred to as Punjab University, is a public, research, coeducational higher education institution located in Lahore, Pakistan. Punjab University is the oldest public university in Pakistan. ...

's Law College in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

Judicial career

After a short phase as a practicing lawyer, he started his career in judiciary as Civil Judge on March 23, 1953 by taking charge in

Chakwal Chakwal ( Punjabi and ur, ) is a city in Rawalpindi Division, Punjab province, Pakistan. It is the 66th largest city of Pakistan by population. Chakwal is located 90 kilometres south-west of the federal capital, Islamabad and 270 kilomet ...

. Having served as the District and Session's Judge in

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

from 1970 to 1980, he took oath as judge of the

on the November 2, 1981 and retired from the High Court on March 10, 1990. Due to his spotless record of dauntless honesty, he was requested by the government to rejoin as a judge of the Special Court for Speedy Trials in

Multan Multan (; ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan, on the bank of the Chenab River. Multan is Pakistan's seventh largest city as per the 2017 census, and the major cultural, religious and economic centre of southern Punjab. Multan is one of the List ...

where he served till 1994. During his long and illustrious career as a judge, Justice Sharif dealt with thousands of cases and gave several landmark judgments. Among these, the most prominent judgment was in the high-profile murder case of the former Chief Minister Ghulam Haider Wayne during which he faced and defied tremendous pressures and made a just decision. As a professional judge, Justice Sharif was known for his extraordinary efficiency, integrity and speedy decision making. During his tenure as a judge he was five times awarded the All

Certificate for giving judgment on maximum number of court cases. He set the highest standards of honesty and punctuality very few could claim.

Later years

Justice Sharif lived a simple and disciplined life as a devoted

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

. He was very fond of

Iqbal Iqbal, Eqbal, Ikbal, or Eghbal may refer to: Geography Iran * ''Eqbal, Iran'', a village in West Azerbaijan Province *''Eqbaliyeh'', rural district in Iran * ''Eqbal-e Gharbi Rural District'', western provincial district in Qazvin, Iran * ''Eqbal- ...

's philosophy of self-esteem and faith. He remained an ardent swimmer, athlete and won several local tennis championships as a keen tennis player. He died on June 29, 2009 Lahore High Court Judges Who Passed Away (2004 to 2009)
" and is buried in

where he lived most of his later years in life. Justice Sharif was survived by his widow, two sons and two daughters. His autobiography is in final phases of being edited for publication.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharif, Chaudhry Muhammad 1928 births 2009 deaths Pakistani judges