Seniority row: 5 judges urge SC to restrain Justice Dogar from duties as acting IHC CJ – Pakistan

Five judges of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) petitioned the Supreme Court on Thursday 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. The matter arose after the Ministry of Law and Justice issued a notification on February 1, transferring three sitting judges — Justice Dogar, Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro and Justice Muham­mad Asif — from their respective high courts to the IHC.

Justice Dogar was transferred from the Lahore High Court (LHC), Justice Soomro from the Sindh High Court (SHC) and Justice Asif from the Balochistan High Court (BHC). The controversy centred around the alteration of the seniority list following these transfers.

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 oathtaking 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, the registrars of the SC and four high courts, Justice Dogar, Justice Soomro and Justice Asif as respondents.

Article 184(3) of the Constitution sets out the SC’s original jurisdiction and enables it to assume jurisdiction in matters involving a question of “public importance” with reference to the “enforcement of any of the fundamental rights” of Pakistan’s citizens.

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.

More to follow.