Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel on Monday has taken oath as the judge of the Supreme Court, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Supreme Court Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmad administered oath to Justice Mandokhel on Monday.

After the oath-taking of Justice Mandokhel, the total number of judges in the apex court has risen to 16.

A number of judges, lawyers, law officials and judicial staff participated in the oath-taking ceremony.

Five Supreme Court judges including the Chief Justice of Pakistan are retiring next year whereas the backlog of pending cases is 51,138.

As per details, Justice Mushir Alam will retire on August 18. Last year, Justice Faisal Arab was retired on November 4. Justice Manzoor Malik was retired on April 30 this year. Another five judges will be retiring next year (2022).

CJP Gulzar Ahmed is retiring on February 2, 2022 while Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin and Justice Maqbool Baqir will retire on March 25 and April 4, 2022 respectively.

Reporter Amanat Gishkori