- President Zardari notifies judges’ seniority in light of SC verdict.
- Acting CJ Justice Dogar, other judges’ transfer declared permanent.
- Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani notified as second-most senior judge.
ISLAMABAD: In the latest development in the ongoing legal saga related to the seniority issue and transfer of judges, President Asif Ali Zardari has notified Justice Sarfraz Dogar as the senior-most judge of the Islamabad High Court — who is already serving as the IHC’s acting chief justice.
The notification issued by the Ministry of Law and Justice, dated June 27, is in line with the Supreme Court’s June 19 order wherein a five-member bench had dismissed pleas filed against the transfer of judges from three high courts to the IHC and termed them as being constitutional while allowing Justice Dogar to continue to work as IHC’s acting CJ.
The Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar-led bench had announced its verdict in response to petitions filed by five IHC judges, the Karachi Bar Association (KBA), the IHC Bar Association, and others against the transfer of Justice Sarfraz Dogar from the Lahore High Court (LHC), Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro from the Sindh High Court (SHC), and Justice Muhammad Asif from the Balochistan High Court (BHC).
All three judges had been transferred to the IHC.
The move had been challenged in the apex court by Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Justice Babar Sattar, Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan and Justice Saman Riffat Imtiaz who prayed that the court declare that the president lacked unfettered and unbridled discretion to transfer judges from one high court to another, under Article 200(1) of the Constitution, without a manifest public interest, and in a manner that hampers the principles of independence of judiciary and separation of powers.
However, dismissing their plea the top court ruled that the “powers of transfer conferred to the president by none other than the framers of the Constitution”.
Highlighting that the president’s powers under Article 200 were regulated and were subjected to his consultation with the CJP, the Supreme Court ruled that they “did not compromise the independence of the judiciary for the discernable reason that the decision to accept or reject is exclusively within the hands of the judiciary”.
As per the notification issued by the Law Ministry, Justice Kayani has been notified as the second-most senior judge followed by Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and Justice Jahangiri in the third and fourth place, respectively.
Meanwhile, Justice Sattar is the fifth-most senior judge of the IHC followed by Justice Ishaq and Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir at sixth and seventh place.
Other judges on the list include Justice Imtiaz (8th), Justice Khalid Hussain Soomro (9th), Justice Muhammad Azam Khan (10th), Justice Muhammad Asif (11th) and Justice Inaam Ameen Minhas (12th).
Furthermore, the notification mentions that the transfer of Justice Dogar, Justice Soomro and Justice Asif to the IHC was made on a “permanent basis”.
It is pertinent to know that on Saturday, the five IHC judges filed an intra-court appeal (ICA) against the SC’s June 19 verdict.
In their plea, the judges urged that the Constitutional Bench’s order should be “recalled and set aside […] in the interest of justice”.
“During the pendency of the instant appeal, this Hon’ble Court may graciously grant interim relief as prayed for in the accompanying interim relief application. Any other relief that this Hon’ble Court may deem fit and proper may also be granted,” the petition stated.
