Supreme Court dismisses pleas against IHC judges’ transfer, terms it constitutional

Apex court rules Justice Sarfraz Dogar can continue to work as IHC acting chief justice

ISLAMABAD, JUNE 19 (DNA):

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed pleas filed against the transfer of judges from three high courts to the Islamabad High Court and termed them as being constitutional while ruling that Justice Sarfraz Dogar can continue to work as IHC’s acting chief justice.

The verdict was announced by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, who was heading the five-member constitutional bench hearing petitions filed by five IHC judges, the Karachi Bar Association (KBA) and the IHC Bar Association, among others.

The Supreme Court’s constitutional bench has reserved its verdict in the judges’ transfer case after all the parties’ arguments were completed.

According to media reports, the short verdict will be announced today at 2 PM. The five-member constitutional bench headed by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar heard the judges’ transfer case.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan’s lawyer Idrees Ashraf, while summing up the arguments, said that the judges’ transfer is illegal and political transfers were made in the Islamabad High Court.

Attorney General Mansoor Usman Awan and senior lawyer Munir A Malik gave arguments in reply. The verdict in the case was reserved after all the lawyers’ arguments were completed.

The bench headed by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar said that the short verdict in the case against the transfer of judges will be pronounced today. It should be noted that after the President transferred judges from other high courts to the Islamabad High Court, 5 judges of the High Court had filed a petition in the Supreme Court on February 20 this year on the issue of seniority.

Transfer Case History

Islamabad High Court Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Justice Tariq Mahmood Jahangiri, Justice Babar Sattar, Justice Sardar Ijaz Ishaq Khan and Justice Saman Riffat Imtiaz, through senior lawyers Munir A. Malik and Barrister Salahuddin, had requested in a 49-page petition filed under Article 184, Clause 3 of the Constitution that the Supreme Court declare that the President does not have unlimited powers to transfer judges under Clause 1 of Article 200.

The petition has urged that judges cannot be transferred from one high court to another without public interest. It may be recalled that Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Aamir Farooq had expressed confidence in previous decisions while justifying the reduction of judges’ posts in the revised seniority list, including a decision of the Supreme Court of India that separated transfers from appointments.

The report stated that Chief Justice Islamabad High Court Justice Aamir Farooq had rejected the petition filed by Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Justice Tariq Mahmood Jahangiri, Justice Babar Sattar, Justice Sardar Ijaz Ishaq Khan, and Justice Saman Riffat Imtiaz against the amendment in the seniority list.

The decision was issued after a detailed review of the constitutional provisions and judicial precedents related to the transfer and seniority of judges. The matter came to light when the Ministry of Law and Justice issued a notification on February 1 in which three sitting judges, Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar, Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro, and Justice Muhammad Asif, were transferred from their respective high courts to the Islamabad High Court.