Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday

Honourable Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday is a judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. He is widely considered to be one of the most independent minded judges Pakistan has ever produced. He was born in Lahore on January 13 1945 in the famous Ramday Arain family of (late) Justice Mr. Muhammad Siddique as the fifth child and the third son. The family is known for outspoken and principled stances throughout its history. His late brother Muhammad Farooq has been recognised as a powerful and courageous Attorney General of Pakistan. His younger brother Asadur Rehman, a politician, was elected as a Member of the National Assembly three times and served as a minister as well. During the unrest that followed the recent imposition of emergency by President Musharraf, he was placed under arrest of Pakistan army along with many other judges of the Supreme and High Courts who refused to take oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order issued by the President after a seven member bench of the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional and illegal.

Education

After receiving his early education in different schools of the Punjab, he matriculated from Central Model School, Lahore, and 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.

At Gordon College, Rawalpindi, he was the captain of the college tennis team. He was judged the best English and Urdu debater of the college. He also became the editor of the college magazine, "The Gordonian" and was later elected, un-opposed, as the president of the college Minerva Club.

After graduation, he joined the Punjab University Law College at Lahore, where he became secretary of the Punjab University Law Society, and the editor of the college magazine, "Al-Mizan". He was declared the best English debater of 1968 in the Punjab University after wining the "Krishan Kishore Grover Goodwill Gold Medal Declamation Contest". He graduated in 1968 with a top honors for best all round activities in academics, sports and debates.

Professional career

Ramday joined the legal profession at Lahore and enrolled as an advocate of the subordinate Courts in the year 1969. In 1971, he became an advocate of the High Court and in 1976 as an advocate of the Supreme Court.

In April 1976, he was appointed Assistant Advocate General of the Punjab, was promoted to Additional Advocate General in 1984, and was finally appointed as the Advocate General in March, 1987.

Judicial career

In October 1988, Ramday was elevated to the bench of the Lahore High Court and was promoted to the judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in January, 2002. He became famous for presiding over the bench in the Chief Juctice Iftikhar Chaudhary versus the Government of Pakistan in 2007.

ervices

Ramday has 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. He regularly delivers lectures at the National Defence College, Islamabad, the Administrative Staff College of Pakistan, the Naval War College and the Air Force War College of Pakistan

He has also been on the board of governors of the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) and the Lahore School of Economics. In addition, he has been a member of the syndicate of the Islamia University, Bahawalpur, and the Agriculture University, Faisalabad. Presently, he is a member of the board of governors of the Air University and the University of Modern Languages and Disciplines, Islamabad, and is a member of the syndicate of Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad.

In recognition of his services in the field of education especially the legal branch of education and the administration of justice, in May 2005, he was honored with an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws by the Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, which is rated amongst the top ten universities of India.

He has the honour of addressing the Gurukul Kangri University at Haridwar in India, where he had been invited to talk about inter-faith harmony. On the same topic, he addressed the Rotary International South Asia Goodwill Summit, 2007 held at Delhi in February, 2007.