President approves appointment of Justice Musarrat Hilali as chief justice of PHC

President Dr Arif Alvi on Wednesday approved the appointment of Justice Musarrat Hilali as the first female Chief Justice of the Peshawar High Court (PHC), Aaj News reported.

A notification issued by the law ministry after the approval of the president said Justice Musarrat will take charge on April 1 after the retirement of current Chief Justice Qaiser Rasheed.

She would be the second female judge to be elevated to the chief justice of a high court after Justice Tahira Safdar, the CJ of Balochistan High Court.

Justice Musarrat Hilali was among the senior-most judges of PHC and would serve as CJ till her retirement.

Born in Peshawar on August 08, 1961, she received her Law Degree from Khyber Law College Peshawar University and enrolled as an Advocate of District Courts in 1983, as an Advocate of the High Court in 1988, and as an Advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 2006.

She has several achievements in her career, including being the first female elected officebearer on the post of Secretary at the bar from 1988-1989, vice president at the bar (twice) from 1992 to 1994, General Secretary from 1997-1998, first female twice elected as an executive member of Supreme Court Bar Association(SCBA) from 2007-2008 and 2008-2009.

Justice Musarrat was also the first female Additional Advocate General of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from November 2001 to March 2004 and was later appointed as the first female Chairperson Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Environmental Protection Tribunal.

She also served as the first female Ombudsman for the Protection against Harassment of Women in the Workplace.

Justice Musarrat was elevated to the Bench as Additional Judge on March 26, 2013, and confirmed as a permanent judge of the Peshawar High Court on March 13, 2014.