New controversy emerges over change of IHC division bench judges

ISLAMABAD: Another controversy has arisen in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) with regard to the change of judges on a two-member division bench.

Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani issued an order to constitute the old division bench headed by him for hearing the case against the National Accountability Court (NAB) over land grabbing in Sector E-11.

However, the two-member bench headed by Justice Kayani has not been continued in the new judges’ roster starting on May 19 (tomorrow).

The case against the NAB investigation into land embezzlement in Sector E-11 was being heard by the division bench comprising Justice Kayani and Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan.

On April 28 the cause list of the case was cancelled due to the unavailability of the bench on the day of the hearing. On the same day, the judges’ roster was issued, and Justice Khan, who was part of the division bench headed by Justice Kayani, was replaced by Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz.

On May 8, a miscellaneous application regarding the same case was fixed for the division bench of Justice Kayani and Justice Saman, and the court ordered that it be placed with the main case before the previous division bench comprising Justice Kayani and Justice Khan, which has already heard this case. The court directed that the case be fixed for a special division bench on May 22. Earlier, the judges’ roster was issued in which Justice Kayani’s division bench was not constituted to hear the case.