Judge
Mr. Justice Syed Shahid Bahar
Born on May 12, 1966 in village Dawarian, District Muzaffarabad (now District Neelum since May 14, 2005) , Justice Syed Shahid Bahar is the son of the late Syed Baha-ud-Din Bahar, a renowned educationist who was all the rage among the rank and file of Neelum Valley for his conspicuous contributions in the field of education. Justice Syed Shahid Bahar’s mother, Jahandeeda Bahar holds the distinction of being first ever female teacher from Neelum Valley.
Justice Bahar matriculated from Government Baha-ud-Din Bahar Boys Higher Secondary School Dawarian(school was named on his father for acknowledging the services of the latter in the arena of education), did his intermediate from Degree College Athmuqam, graduated from the University of AJ&K, Muzaffarabad and obtained the degree of Legum Baccalaureus (LLB) from the University of Punjab, Lahore.
Justice Bahar got enrolled as an Advocate in Lower Courts of the AJ&K on 25.07.1990, as an Advocate of the AJ&K High Court on 04.11.1997 and on 16.05.2002, as an Advocate of the Apex Court of AJ&K.
Justice Bahar got elected as a Member of the AJ&K Bar Council(highest elected body of lawyers in Azad Jammu and Kashmir) twice from 2002-2007 and 2012-2017 besides Chairman of its Executive Committee, Anti-Corruption Committee and Kashmir Committee; in addition to that, President of the AJ&K Supreme Court Bar Association for a while.
Justice Bahar got elected as the President of the Central Bar Association, Muzaffarabad in the year 2010. He tendered his services as a visiting Lecturer of the following subjects namely Criminal Law, Interpretation of Statutes and Law of Writs in the Department of Law, University of AJ&K. He remained Legal Advisor of AJ&K Government for various departments i.e. Electricity, Public Works Department (PWD) and Development Authority Muzaffarabad(DAM).
On banking side, he provided his legal expertise to the National Bank of Pakistan(NBP), Bank of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (BoAJ&K), Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) and Industrial Development Bank of Pakistan (IDBP).
In the year 2016, Justice Bahar became Chief Prosecutor of the Ehtesab Bureau of AJ&K and served there for a brief stint. Being an Advocate, his plethora of cases are reported in various Law Journals including All Pakistan Legal Decisions(PLD), Pakistan Law Journal(PLJ), Pakistan Labour Cases[PLC(C.S.)], Civi Law Cases(CLC), Monthly Law Digest(MLD), Pakistan Criminal Law Journal(PCr.LJ), Yearly Law Reporter(YLR), Supreme Court Recorder(SCR) etc. The Honorable Judge took oath of his office on January 8, 2022.
Being a Judge, he has rendered numerous landmark judgments impacting the lives of rank and file to a marked degree. For instance in Ghosia Riaz v. Joint Admission Committee for Admission in Medical Colleges of AJ&K [PLD 2022 High Court (AJ&K) 25], Justice Bahar abhorred the usage of words in various enactments like disabled, crippled etc for special persons and held that such pejorative terms must be substituted with “differently abled persons” or “persons having different abilities”.
In Muhammad Ayyan Ali Raja v. AJ&K Legislative Assembly through its Secretary [PLD 2023 High Court (AJK) 55] barrier of the age of 25 years for contesting local bodies elections was done away with; resulting entry of younger generation at local bodies level.
Please click here to view reported cases of Honorable Judge as Counsel and Judge of High Court AJ&K.