ISLAMABAD: Five judges of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) petitioned the Supreme Court (SC) to restrain Justice Sardar Mohammad Sarfraz Dogar from carrying out his duties as the acting IHC chief justice. The development is the latest in the row affecting the IHC after the transfers of new judges to the high court that led to a shakeup of the seniority list.

Five IHC judges-Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Justice Babar Sattar, Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz had filed a representation, contending that under the Constitution, a high court judge must take a new oath upon transfer to a different high court, which should affect their seniority ranking.

The five judges also did not attend Justice Dogar's oath taking ceremony as the acting IHC chief justice. The five judges filed a petition in the Supreme Court today under Article 184(3) of the Constitution and mentioned the president, Federation of Pakistan through the law secretary, secretary of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP), the registrars of the SC and four high courts, Justice Dogar, Justice Soomro and Justice Asif as respondents.

The petition pleaded the apex court to restrain Justice Dogar from performing functions as the acting IHC chief justice and to also restrain the other transferred judges from performing any of their judicial and administrative functions as IHC judges.

The judges also urged the apex court to declare that the president did not have the "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".

Published in The Daily National Courier, February, 21 2025

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