President Asif Ali Zardari appointed judge Sarfraz Dogar as the highest judge of the High Court of Islamabad (CIH), following a determination of judicial seniority.
The announcement, made by an official notification on Sunday, also confirmed the permanent transfer of three judges from other high lessons to the IHC.
Five IHC judges dispute the SC decision
Earlier, five IHC judges challenged the Supreme Court order approving the transfer of three judges to the IHC. They also asked the APEX Court to retain the three transferred judges – including the acting chief judge Sarfraz Dogar – to exercise legal or administrative functions as Judges of the IHC.
The judges, whose judge Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, judge Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, judge Babar Sattar, judge Sardar Ijaz Ishaq Khan and judge Saman Rafat Imtiaz, filed an intra-short appeal (ICA) against the councils Muneer a Malik and Barrister Salahuddin Ahmed Ahmed.
On June 19, the constitutional bench of the Supreme Court announced its verdict, declaring that their transfers were not unconstitutional.
The decision also referred the question of judicial seniority to the president of Pakistan.
In February, judge Sardar Mohammad Sarfraz Dogar from the High Court of Lahore (LHC), judge Khadim Hussain Soomro from the High Court of the Sindh (SHC) and judge Muhammad Asif from the High Court of Balutchistan (BHC) were transferred to the IHC.
The controversy revolves around the modifications made to the seniority list of judges following these transfers, the Dogar judge being appointed as the main judge. This decision paved the way for his appointment as an acting chief of the IHC after judge Aamer Farooq was raised at the Supreme Court.
In their ICA, the five judges also asked the high -level court to restrict three transfer judges, including judge Dogar judge, to fulfill judicial and administrative functions as judges of the IHC.
In their petition, the judges asked for an immediate suspension of the Supreme Court decision on June 19 until their ICA was heard.
In addition, they moved the Superior Court to impose a suspension order for determining the seniority of the judges transferred to the IHC, with the exception of the president of Pakistan to make any decision in this regard.
