Five IHC judges raise issue of seniority again

ISLAMABAD: Five judges of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) have once again raised the issue of the seniority of judges. The five judges sent a representation to the IHC chief justice against the new seniority list issued after the transfer of three judges, and also sent a copy to Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi.

The five judges requested the CJP to postpone the meeting of the judicial commission for the appointment of judges to the Supreme Court until the issue of seniority of judges is resolved.

After the transfer of judges from three provincial high courts to the IHC, a new seniority list of judges was issued with the approval of IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq, on which Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Justice Babar Sattar, Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan and Justice Saman Riffat Imtiaz have sent a representation to Justice Farooq that a judge takes an oath for the high court in which he is appointed.

They were of the view that according to the constitution, a judge has to take a new oath when transferred to another high court, and the seniority of a judge transferred to another high court will be determined according to the new oath.

It is pertinent to mention here that the representation filed by the judges is related to seniority, and has nothing to do with the transfer of judges.

According to sources, separate representations are also likely to be filed by Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir. The judges have also requested CJP Afridi to postpone the meeting of the judicial commission.

They said that the judicial commission meeting should be postponed until the issue of the seniority of the judges of the IHC is resolved.

APP adds: Justice Farooq has made various changes at administrative level after the addition of three new judges. He has appointed Justice Sardar Sarfaraz Dogar as the administrative judge for the anti-terrorism courts and the accountability courts. Previously, Justice Kayani was the administrative judge of these courts.

Similarly, Justice Muhammad Azam Khan has been appointed as the administrative judge of the district courts (West) Islamabad. As per the office orders, Justice Tahir has been appointed as the administrative judge of the FIA courts, and Justice Saman as the administrative judge of the banking courts.