Islamabad: After the transfer of new judges from other provinces for hearing on April 14, a constitutional bench of the Supreme Court on Monday made various petitions regarding the issue of sanity in the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
A five -member bench headed by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Naeem Akhtar consists of Afghan, Shahid Bilal, Salahuddin Panwar and Shakeel Ahmed.
After the transfer of new judges to the High Court, the development affects the IHC, which led to the death of the seniority list. The matter was created by the Ministry of Law and Justice on February 1 after issuing a notification, in which three sitting judges – Justice Sardar Mohammad Sarfraz Dougar, Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro and Justice Mohammad Asif – were transferred from their respective high courts to IHC.
Justice Dogar was transferred from Lahore High Court (LHC), Sindh High Court (SHC) from Justice Soomro and Balochistan High Court (BHC) from Justice Asif. The dispute focuses around the transfer of the seniority list after the transfer.
Five IHC judges – Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Justice Tariq Mehmood Jehangiri, Justice Babar Sattar, Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan and Justice Saman Raifat Imtiaz representing him and said that his high court judge should take a different time of time.
Five judges also did not attend the IHC Chief Justice who attended the oath of office of Justice Dogar. After that, he became a litigation, after the transfer of new judges from other provinces to the High Court requested the Supreme Court to resolve the dispute around his sanity.
In a petition transferred by senior councilor Munir A. Malik, the petitioners asked the Supreme Court to prevent the judges from performing judicial and administrative work in the High Court.
In the petition filed under Article 184 (3) of the Constitution, the Supreme Court also requested that the Acting Chief Justice Sardar Mohammad Sarfraz Dogar, Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro, and Justice Muhammad Asif could not be considered as the judges of the IHC unless they were considered to be a number of judges. Once the hearing is taken for hearing, the petition will be made before the constitutional bench.
According to this petition, according to the law set up by the Supreme Court in the cases of Aslam Owan and Farrukh Irfan, the transitional judges should be determined from the date when they took oath as IHC judges. As a result, they will be kept in the list of seniority compared to the applicant judges.
The petition also requested the Apex Court to declare the same representation of the then IHC Chief Justice Aamir Farooq on February 8 and contrary to the law set by the Supreme Court. As a result, the Supreme Court should keep the decision on February 3 and the decision on the list of seniority.
According to the petition, the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) incorrectly considered the poor senior list of IHC judges during the meeting on February 10, in which the transfer judges were mistakenly considered for height in the Supreme Court. It was also asked by President Asif Ali Zardari to announce a notification for appointing Justice Dogar as acting as an acting CJ.
The petition also sought the directive that the IHC Registrar should issue a revised seniority list under the announcements given by the Supreme Court. It states that the reorganization of the administration and the Department of Promotion Committee is contrary to law, conventions and judicial principles.
Similar petitions were later filed by PTI jail founder Imran Khan, Lahore Bar Association and Karachi Bar Association.
