Syed Sajjad Ali Shah

Syed Sajjad Ali Shah (Urdu: سید سجاد علی شاہ‎) was the Chief Justice of Pakistan from 4 June 1994 to 2 December 1997.

When Dr. Nasim Hasan Shah retired as Chief Justice of Pakistan in 1994, Justice Saad Saud Jan should have taken his place based on seniority. But Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto threw tradition overboard, when she by-passed two senior judges and appointed Sajjad Ali Shah as Chief Justice of Pakistan. Later, she was dismissed by President Farooq Leghari on charges of corruption and Sajjad Ali Shah along with 6 other judges of the Supreme Court upheld this decision. Reading from a 12-page short order, Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah said

The presidential order contained enough substance and adequate material had been provided to conclude that the government could not be run in accordance with the provisions of the constitution and that an appeal to the electorate had become necessary.

Syed Sajjad Ali Shah died at the age of 84 on 7 March 2017 in Karachi after suffering from severe chest infection.

• Former Chairman of Iran-Pakistan Friendship Association

• Law Courts in a Glass House: An Autobiography, by Sajjad Ali Shah ISBN 0-19-579561-X