LAHORE, July 31 As many as 46 sitting judges of the Lahore High Court (LHC) are likely to be affected by Friday's Supreme Court verdict on Nov 3, 2007 Provisional Constitution Order (PCO).

As many as 12 LHC judges had taken oath under the PCO on Nov 3, 2007, eight were appointed under the PCO from Nov 3 to Dec 14, 2007, and another 26 were appointed in consultation with chief justice Abdul Hamid Dogar till his superannuation on March 21, 2009.

The 12 LHC judges who took oath under the PCO on Nov 3, 2007 are Justices Mian Muhammad Najamuz Zaman, Maulvi Anwarul Haq, Nasim Sikandar, Abdul Shakoor Piracha, Muhammad Khalid Alvi, Fazal-i-Miran Chohan, Syed Shabbar Raza Rizvi, Syed Hamid Ali Shah, Syed Sajjad Hussain Shah, Tariq Shamim, Syed Asghar Haider and Hasnat Ahmed Khan.

Justice Zahid Hussain also took oath under the PCO and was made LHC chief justice upon the retirement of Justice Iftikhar Hussain Chaudhry on December 31, 2007. However, Justice Zahid was later elevated to the Supreme Court before Justice Khawaja Muhammad Sharif assumed the office of chief justice on April 14, 2009. Justice Sardar Aslam also took oath under the PCO but was later appointed Islamabad High Court (IHC) chief justice on February 7, 2008 and subsequently elevated to the Supreme Court.

Justice M Bilal Khan also took oath under the PCO and was appointed IHC chief justice after the elevation of Justice Sardar Aslam to the Supreme Court on March 8, 2009.

Justices Mian Hamid Farooq and Syed Sakhi Hussain Bokhari also took oath under the PCO but were elevated to the Supreme Court on Dec 11, 2007.

Eight judges who were appointed under the PCO from Nov 3 to Dec 14, 2007, are Justices Zubdatul Hussain, Zafar Iqbal Chaudhry, Khawaja Farooq Saeed, Muhammad Akram Qureshi, Khurshid Anwar Bhinder, Saifur Rehman and S. Ali Hassan Rizvi. (Justice Mazhar Hussain Minhas was appointed along with these judges but he took oath on January 1, 2008).

The 26 LHC judges appointed in consultation with chief justice Abdul Hamid Dogar before his retirement are Justices Muhammad Ashraf Bhatti, Rana Zahid Mahmood, Kazim Ali Malik, Hafiz Tariq Nasim, M.A. Zafar, Malik Saeed Ijaz, Syed Shaheen Masood Rizvi, Ali Akbar Qureshi, Muhammad Ahsan Bhoon, Pervez Ali Chawla, Habibullah Shakir, Nazir Ahmed Ghazi, Abdul Sattar Goraya, Syed Ehtisham Qadir Shah, Jamila Jehanoor Aslam, Mahmood Akhtar Khan, Jamshed Rehmatullah, Pervez Inayat Malik, Arshad Mahmood, Irfan Qadir, Syed Zulfiqar Ali Bokhari, Naeem Masood, Anwarul Haq Punnu, Raja Muhammad Shafqat Khan and Imtiaz Rashid Siddiqi.

Justices Saqib Nisar, Asif Saeed Khosa, Sheikh Azmat Saeed and Omar Ata Bandial took fresh oath of office in June 2008 but were restored to their Nov 3, 2007 position.

Chief Justice Khawaja Muhammad Sharif, Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry and Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman were restored to their Nov 3, 2007 position along with Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on March 16, 2009.

Justice Chaudhry Iftikhar Hussain was appointed LHC judge on May 12, 2009, following a judicial pronouncement by the Supreme Court.

Currently, 54 judges are working in the Lahore High Court.