The Constitutional Bank of the Supreme Court on Monday arranged several supplications on the issue of seniority in the Superior Court of Islamabad (IHC), after the transfer of new judges from other provinces, for a hearing on April 14.
A five -members bank headed by Judge Muhammad Ali Mazhar and including Judges Naeem Akhtar Afghan, Shahid Bilal, Salahuddin Panhwar and Shakeel Ahmed will listen to the case.
Development is the last consecutive that affects the IHC after the transfers of new judges to the Superior Court that led to a shaking of the seniority list. The matter arose after the Ministry of Law and Justice issued a notification on February 1, transferring three seated judges, Judge Sardar Mohammad Sarfraz Dogar, Judge Khadim Hussain Soomro and Judge Muhammad Asif, of their respective courts higher than the IHC.
Judge Dogar was transferred from the Superior Court of Lahore (LHC), Judge Soomro of the Superior Court of Sindh (SHC) and Judge Asif of the Superior Court of Baluchistan (BHC). The controversy focused on the alteration of the antiquity list after these transfers.
Five judges of IHC – Judge Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Judge Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Justice Babar Sattar, Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz had submitted a representation, holding that under the Constitution, a judge of the Superior Court must take a new jury after the transfer to a different High Court SERAMINA.
The five judges also did not attend the oath ceremony of Justice to tell as the president of the Supreme Court of IHC. Subsequently they became litigants, requesting the Supreme Court to resolve the controversy around its antiquity in the Superior Court after the transfer of new judges from other provinces.
In the statement transferred by the main lawyer Muneer A. Malik, the petitioners asked the Apex court to restrict the judges transferred to the Superior Court to perform judicial and administrative functions.
The petition, presented under article 184 (3) of the Constitution, also requested the Supreme Court to declare that the President of the Interim Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar, Judge Khadim Hussain Soomro and Judge Muhammad Asif cannot be considered IHC judges until they have reigned new in accordance with article 194, they are read in conjunction with the third calendar of the Constitution. The petition will be placed before the Constitutional Bank for the award once it takes it to the audience.
According to the petition, in line with the law established by the Supreme Court in the cases of Aslam Awan and Farrukh Irfan, the antiquity between the transferred judges must be determined from the date they took oath as judges of IHC. Consequently, they will be lower in the list of seniority than the judges of the petitioners.
The petition also asked the APEX court to declare the decision of February 8 illegal about a similar representation by the then president of the Supreme Court of IHC, Aamer Faooq, and contrary to the established law established by the Supreme Court. Consequently, the Supreme Court must set aside the decision on the representation and the seniority list of February 3.
According to the statement, the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) unfairly considered a list of defective seniority of IHC judges during their February 10 meeting, in which the transferred judges were erroneously considered to rise to the Supreme Court. He also asked to declare the notification of February 12 by President Asif Ali Zardari by appointing Justice to give the illegal interim CJ.
The petition also sought an address in which the IHC registrar should issue a revised seniority list under the statements made by the Supreme Court. He said that the reconstitution of the Administration Committee and the Departmental Promotion Committee was contrary to the law, established conventions and judicial norms.
Similar requests were also presented by the imprisoned founder of PTI, Imran Khan, the Lahore lawyers association and the Karachi lawyers association, asking the Supreme Court to restrict the judges transferred to the IHC to perform their judicial and administrative functions.
