Islamabad:

Justice Sarfraz Dogar’s fate as the next Chief Justice of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) hangs in balance after Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi on Tuesday approved the statement from the four Supreme Court’s judges on seniority in the IHC judges.

Justice Dogar was one of the three judges transferred last week to IHC from the provincial high courts in Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan. After this transfer, IHC issued a new seniority list that ranked Justice Dogar as the Senior Puisne judge.

Five IHC judges later submitted representations against Justice Dogar. IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq, whose height to SC is already approved by the Legal Commission in Pakistan (JCP), rejected these representations on Monday.

The IHC judges had claimed that when Justice Dogar paused his oath as a judge for IHC, his seniority would have to be determined from the date the oath was administered to him. Therefore, Justice Dogar would be lower in seniority than the judges who took their oaths in front of him.

Four SC referees – Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Ayesha Malik and Justice At Har Minallah – in their letter to CJ Afridi also approved the attitude taken by five IHC judges.

When he spoke with court reporters on Tuesday, CJ Afridi said he mainly agreed with four SC judges about seniority in IHC judges. He said the name of Justice Dogar should not have been on the list of IHC judges who were considered to height for SC.

CJ said he thought there is a legal forum to decide on the seniority issue of the IHC judge. Justice Shah and Justice Munib Akhtar are also the members of JCP.

During the JCP meeting on February 10, two members -Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail and Pakistan bar Council (PBC) Member Akhtar Hussain also concerned concern about the new seniority list of IHC judges. Both disagreed with the proposal for raising Justice Aamer Farooq to SC, the sources say.

It is learned that members of the independent group are dissatisfied with the attitude taken by PBC representative Akhtar Hussain on the seniority of IHC judges, and oppose the height of two Lahore High Court judges because of their integrity.

A 15-member JCP led by CJ Afridi will decide on the next IHC High Court at his next meeting. Eight votes are required for the appointment. The government has six votes so far.

Justice Aminuddin Khan supports every single movement of the executive during JCP meetings. Even if Justice Khan supports the government’s nominees for the position of the next IHC higher, the executive still needs another vote.

Islamabad wore the Council representative of JCP, Zulfiqar Abbasi, is likely to vote for Justice Dogar’s height as the next IHC chief law, as the capitals have already taken a strong attitude towards his transfer.

However, a senior lawyer said the government has transferred Justice Dogar to IHC and will secure his height as the next IHC higher at any cost. The government took over IHC the day it transferred three judges to it, he said.

“The judges, whose integrity is questionable, will be rewarded while upright and independent judges are treated as criminals,” he added.