Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday

Hon’ble Mr. Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday was born on 13th January, 1945 at Lahore; received early education from Central Model School, Lahore; joined Government College, Lahore from where he migrated to Gordon College, Rawalpindi, on account of his father’s posting in the Federal Ministry of Law; graduated from Gordon College, Rawalpindi; remained the Editor of the College Magazine “Gordonian”; remained the President of the college Minerva Club; remained as best debater of the College. He did L.L.B. from The University of Punjab in the year 1968; remained the Secretary of the Punjab University Law Society; remained the Editor of College Magazine “Al-Mizan”; won a large number of prizes and trophies in the International and All Pakistan Inter-Collegiate Debates; was declared as the best English debater in the year 1968 and won the “Krishnan Kishore Grover Goodwill Gold Medal Declamation Contest”; He remained the visiting Assistant Professor of the University of Punjab; remained a Member of the visiting faculty of the Civil Services Academy of Pakistan and the National Institute of Public Administration, Lahore. He was honoured with a degree of ‘Doctor of Law’ by the Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar on May, 2005 in recognition of services rendered in the field of Education.

He was enrolled as an Advocate of the subordinate Courts in the year 1969; as an Advocate of the High Court in the year 1971 and as an Advocate of the Supreme Court in the year 1976. He was appointed as an Assistant Advocate General for the province of Punjab in April, 1976; was promoted as Additional Advocate General in the year 1984 and as the Advocate General in March, 1987.

He was elevated to the bench of Lahore High Court in October, 1988 and to the Supreme Court of Pakistan in January, 2002.

His lordship remained a visiting Assistant Professor at the Punjab University Law College, Lahore and is presently a member of the visiting Faculty of the Civil Services Academy of Pakistan and the National Institute of Public Administration (NIPA) at Lahore since 1982. Also has the honour of delivering lectures at the National Defence College, Islamabad (now the National Defence University), the Administrative Staff College of Pakistan (now the National School of Public Policy), the Naval War College and the Air Force War College of Pakistan.

His lordship had been on the Board of Governors of the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS); of the Lahore School of Economics; of the Air University, Islamabad and of the University of Modern Languages and Disciplines, Islamabad. He has also been a member of the Syndicate of the Islamia University, Bahawalpur; the Agriculture University, Faisalabad and of the Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.

His lordship has had the honour of addressing the Gurukul Kangri University at Haridewar in India where he had been invited to talk about inter-faith harmony. On the same subject, His lordship addressed the Rotary International South Asia Goodwill Summit, 2007 held at Delhi in February, 2007. On August 12, 2007, His lordship delivered a talk on the ‘FARCICAL NATURE OF THE APPREHENDED CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS’ in Oslo on the occasion of the Pakistan Day celebrations. On the same subject, His lordship also spoke to the Rotarians in Amsterdam on September 3, 2007.

His lordship is the younger brother of (late) Mr. Muhammad Farooq who was, twice, the Attorney General for Pakistan and of Mr. Asad-ur-Rehman who has been a member of the Parliament and a Federal Minister of State. In February, 1971, His lordship was married to the daughter of Mr. Justice Yaqoob Ali Khan who remained the Chief Justice of Pakistan from 1975 till 1977 when he was ousted by General Zia-ul-Haq, the then Chief Martial Law Administrator of the country.

In the year 2007, His lordship presided over a thirteen member Bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan which heard a petition filed by the Chief Justice of Pakistan questioning his removal from office by General Pervez Musharraf, the then President of Pakistan and challenging also the validity of the proceedings initiated against him for his alleged misconduct; set aside the said actions of the said General and restored the Chief Justice back to his office through a land-mark judgment of July 20, 2007.

In October 2007, Mr. Justice Ramday was included in an eleven member Bench of the Supreme Court to hear the petition filed by a presidential candidate; Mr. Justice (retired) Wajih-ud-Din Ahmad challenging the eligibility of General Musharraf to contest the election to the office of the President of Pakistan. On November 3, 2007, while this Bench of the Supreme Court was still hearing this case and was about to announce the judgment, General Musharraf, once again, imposed Martial Law in the country; removed Justice Ramday, along with twelve other Hon’ble Judges of the Supreme Court of Pakistan including the Hon’ble Chief Justice, from office; put him and the other members of his family, including his wife, children and even a grand-child, under house-arrest like the Hon’ble Chief Justice and some other Hon’ble Judges and it was after almost five months of this detention that His lordship was finally released towards the end of March, 2008.

As a result of a long, a hard and a bloody struggle of the people of Pakistan led by the learned members of the National Bar for the constitutionalism, for the rule of law, for the independence of Judiciary and for restoration of the deposed Hon’ble Judges against the said action of the 3rd of November that His lordship got restored to his office on March 16, 2009.

He retired as Judge of the Supreme Court on 12.1.2010. He was appointed as an Adhoc Judge of the Supreme Court on 18.02.2010 for a period of one year.