Islamabad:

In the midst of growing turmoil and protest in the legal fraternity, Islamabad High Court (IHC) revealed his new duty list for the coming week on Sunday and placed three newly transferred judges on key benches – raised Justice Sarfraz Dogar as Senior Puisne.

Justice Dogar, transferred from Lahore High Court (LHC), now has the reins on the important bench 2, a position traditionally reserved for the most senior judge after Chief Justice.

Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, who had previously held the position, has now been awarded to bench 3.

Shake-up has offset alarm bells in legal circles that come a few days after five out of ten IHC judges who were formally against Justice Dogar’s transfer, and warned that his potential increase as Chief Justice would violate constitutional procedures and legal norms.

The letter appeared in the midst of rising speculation that Justice Dogar is in line to become the next IHC higher as the current supreme judge is expected to be raised to the Supreme Court.

The Legal Commission for Pakistan (JCP) is set to complete the most important court appointments on February 10 and elect eight judges from five high courts.

Justice Kayani, former Senior-Most Judge after Chief Justice, will now chairman of Bench 3 after switching the courts because of the new appointments.

Meanwhile, according to the schedule of Sindh High Court, Justice Khadim Hussain has been appointed for bench 9, while Justice Muhammad Asif from Balochistan High Court will take bench 12.

The customs list said the three newly transferred judges will start hearing cases from Monday (today). From February 3 to February 7, six division benches and 13 single benches are available for hearings.

However, Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz will not be available on February 7th.

The first division bench will include Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Inam Ameen Minhas. The second division bench will include the newly transferred judges, Justice Sardar Sarfraz Dogar and Justice Khadim Hussain Somro.

The third division bench will consist of Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani and Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, while the fourth division bench will be led by Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz. This bench is not available on February 7th.

The fifth division bench will include Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri and Justice Azam Khan, while the sixth division bench will include Justice Babar Sattar and Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir.

In addition to standard benches, special division benches and larger benches will also be available under Chief Justice’s Directive. The duty of duty was issued by the Deputy Generator (judicial) with Chief Justice’s approval.

Justice Dogar will remain senior-most judge for IHC until Justice Farooq’s height.

He was transferred under Article 200 of the Constitution. Article 200 states: “The president may transfer a judge by a Supreme Court from one Supreme Court to another Supreme Court, but no judge must be transferred with his consent and after consultation from the president with the Chief Justice of Pakistan and the chief of justice to both the high courts.”

According to the JCP rules, after his transfer, the name of Justice Dogar will be included in the panel of the proposed Chief Justice.

It can be mentioned that former LHC’s Justice Sardar Mohammad Aslam, Justice M Bilal Khan and Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman had been transferred to IHC under the article and was appointed Chief Justice.

Earlier, after the superanning of former IHC High Court Mohammad Anwar Khan Kasi, the name of Justice Shahid Karim was considered for CJ.

Lawyers’ strike

Meanwhile, the legal brotherhood of the federal capital is set to arrange a strike against the appointments.

Islamabad wore Council, Islamabad High Court Bar Association and Islamabad District Bar Association, in a joint meeting on Sunday he will arrange the strike in the district courts and IHC Monday (today).

According to a decision adopted in a joint session in the capital’s legal brotherhood, a strike will be complied with today to protest the “constitutional measure affecting the judiciary and the legal profession”.

“The Legal Brotherhood of Islamabad ensures its obligation to withstand the unjustified transfers and appointments of judges from other provinces to IHC,” the decision said.

Attorneys declared that they would pursue “all legal and constitutional paths to challenge this decision and protect Islamabad’s legal independence.”

The Legal Brotherhood also demanded that Bar Association’s application – which sought the invalidation of the 26th constitutional amendment – were heard by all 16 judges from the Supreme Court.

It condemned the Legal Commission for Pakistan’s (JCP’s) decision to call a meeting to appoint additional judges to SC in February and called the action an “obvious attempt to manipulate the composition of the court and fill it with individuals favored by the ruling parties and establishment.

The resolution said the move obviously ignored the basic principle of an independent judiciary that undermines public confidence in the justice system.

“Attorneys across the nation are convinced that no agreements for SC should continue until a final decision has reached the petitions that challenge the validity of the 26th amendment,” it claimed and called for the postponement of the JCP meeting on 10 .

When he talked about the letter from the IHC judges, the decision on the senior judges supported the judges’ attitude and demanded that the IHC chief of law be appointed from the senior championships present in court to “secure justice and merit-based elections.”

The legal community strongly opposed the controversial changes to the law on the prevention of electronic crimes (PECA) and called it a “tool to suppress freedom of speech and limit freedom of press”.

“An all Pakistani Law Convention will be held under Islamabad Bar Council tomorrow, February 3 at 11am on District Judicial Complex, G-11/4, Islamabad, to formulate future strategy,” the resolution said.