Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar was born on 5th October 1964 at Karachi. After graduation in Commerce, he passed LL.B. Examination in 1990. Justice Mazhar enrolled as an Advocate of subordinate Courts in 1990. He was enrolled as an Advocate of High Court in 1992 and Advocate of Supreme Court of Pakistan in 2006. He started law practice at Karachi and conducted cases in the Civil Courts, High Courts (Sindh, Balochistan, Lahore High Court–Principal Seat and Rawalpindi Bench), Supreme Court of Pakistan, Labour Courts (Karachi, Quetta and Rawalpindi),

Labour Appellate Tribunal (Sindh and Punjab), NIRC (Karachi and Islamabad), Implementation Tribunal for Newspapers Employees (Karachi and Islamabad), SESSI, Authority appointed under the Payment of Wages Act and Workman Compensation Act.

He represented his various clients in a number of constitution petitions in the High Courts, civil suits in Civil Courts and High Court, labour/service matters, appeals in District Courts and High Courts, company cases, criminal matters, cases under print and electronic media laws including the civil suits filed for the recovery of damages on account of defamation/libel in Civil Courts and High Court, copyright infringement cases (both civil and criminal), matters under arbitration laws, direct complaints, rent cases, co-operative societies matters and family cases. During his professional career as a lawyer, he had a number of corporate clients to his credit. He also remained legal advisor of Print and Electronic Media Groups/Companies, Cable TV Network Company, Newspapers Society/Association, Co-operative Housing Society, Electric Power Supply Company and Oil Marketing Company.

Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar was appointed as Judge of the Sindh High Court on 18th February 2010 and elevated to the Supreme Court of Pakistan on 16th August 2021. During the period as a Judge of the Sindh High Court, following areas of work were assigned to him in various rosters:

  • Civil suits of different nature including arbitration laws, admiralty jurisdiction & intellectual property rights.
  • Company matters (winding up petitions, reduction in share capital, merger, de-merger, rectification of share register etc.
  • Civil Appeals, High Court Appeals and Banking Appeals.
  • Constitution Petitions including the matters relating to delimitation, vires of law, writs of quo warranto, directions, election matters, ECL, PEMRA, NADRA, Procurement Laws etc.
  • Service matters and labour matters.
  • Criminal Appeals, Acquittal Appeals including the appeals filed under ATA laws, Cr.Misc. Applications and confirmation cases.
  • Bail matters including ATA, NAB, and narcotics laws

Many judgments authored by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar are reported in different law journals (986 Judgment up till now in local Law Journals and 349 Judgments in Manupatra Online Legal Database). During his tenure as Judge in the Sindh High Court, Justice Mazhar decided more than 10000 cases including many high profile cases to his credit. Besides performing judicial functions, he performed multiple responsibilities as well in various administrative positions and capacities which are as under:

  • Acting Director General, Sindh Judicial Academy.
  • Chairman, I.T. Committee, Sindh High Court (Automation and Court Technologies).
  • Chairman, Purchase Committee, Sindh High Court.
  • Senior Member, Development Committee, Sindh High Court.
  • Chairman, Judicial Studies & Administrative Training and Seminar Board.
  • Monitoring Judge, Labour Courts, Sindh Labour Appellate Tribunal and other adjudicating Authorities/Boards under the industrial laws in Sindh.
  • Member, National Judicial Automation Committee (NJAC), Supreme Court of Pakistan, nominated by Chief Justice, Sindh High Court.
  • Member, Committee for Enhancing Environmental Justice (CEEJ), Supreme Court of Pakistan, nominated by Chief Justice, Sindh High Court.
  • Member, Administration Committee of Sindh High Court.
  • Member, Rules Committee (Civil).
  • Member, Committee to Determine Inter-se Seniority of Officers and Employees of High Court Establishment.
  • Member, Committee to Determine Inter-se Seniority amongst Judicial Officers.
  • Member, Selection Committee for Promotion.
  • Member, Services Tribunal for Judicial Officers.
  • Monitoring Judge, Anti-Terrorism Courts for Sindh other than Karachi.
  • Chairman, Committee to consider applications for appointments of suitable candidates on deceased quota in Sindh High Court on vacant advertised posts.

Justice Mazhar also visited UK to attend group study session/programme on the topic of witness protection which was organized by the British High Commission in 2015. During this study tour, he visited UK Supreme Court, High Court of Justice in London, Woolwich Crown Court, courts of appeal and also met with some key officials of Scotland Yard for group discussion. He was also nominated by the Chief Justice of Pakistan to attend Study Tour in Istanbul and Ankara, Turkey in 2016, where he visited various courts and authorities to observe court working and case management system. He also attended Singapore Cooperation Programme in September 2020 on “Technology and Courts of the Future” conducted by Singapore Judicial College and Supreme Court of Singapore (online) which was sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore.

As Acting Director General, Sindh Judicial Academy, he arranged and hosted “Stone Laying Ceremony of City Campus, Sindh Judicial Academy” by the honorable Chief Justice of Pakistan, Mr.Justice Gulzar Ahmed on 7th February 2020. En route to legal education and training at all levels, the Sindh Judicial Academy, under the supervision, proactive approach and initiative of Justice Mazhar, performed its functions more dynamically and enthusiastically. During his tenure, SJA organized 98 different legal education courses in 18 months in which 3022 trainees were imparted training including judges, prosecutors, practicing advocates nominated by Bar Associations, law students and investigation officers from Sindh and other provinces also. Under the patronage and initiative of Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, the Sindh Judicial Academy for the first time published compendium of Training Manuals & Guidebooks i.e.

  1. Guide for the Effective Investigation and Prosecution of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing in Pakistan (2020);
  2. Human Rights Safeguard in Administration of Justice;
  3. Guidelines on the Supply of Documents-Magisterial Courts (2021);
  4. Guidelines on Framing of Charge-Magisterial Courts (2021);
  5. Human Rights Safeguard in Administration of Justice (2021);
  6. Facilitator’s Manual–Human Rights (2021);
  7. Handbook for Child Courts (2021);
  8. Handbook for Mediation Law (2021);
  9. Handbook for Forensic Science (2021);
  10. Curriculum for Civil Judges & Judicial Magistrates’ Induction Training;
  11. Curriculum for Additional District & Sessions Judges’ Induction Training;
  12. Annual Report of Sindh Judicial Academy (2020); and
  13. Half-yearly SJA Report (Jan-June 2021).

Justice Mazhar also inaugurated Child Court in District East, Karachi on 24th February 2021 which was established with the cooperation of Group Development of Pakistan. He attended many other programmes as Chief Guest, organized by different Bar Associations including law books launching ceremonies and other legal education programs/law conventions organized by different law forums/associations. For imparting legal education, he also delivered lectures to junior advocates in the Sindh Judicial Academy as well as in the different Legal Education Sessions arranged by the Karachi Bar Association.