The issue of seniority of judges has been remanded back to the President of Pakistan, the President should resolve the issue of seniority as soon as possible, the Supreme Court said.
Islamabad: The Supreme Court of Pakistan has reserved its verdict in the judges transfer case. In a majority verdict, the court ruled that the transfer of Justice Sardar Sarfaraz Dogar is in accordance with the constitution and law.
The court declared the transfer of the three judges of the Islamabad High Court valid and said that the transfer of judges cannot be considered a new appointment. The court remanded the issue of seniority of the judges back to the President of Pakistan.
The majority verdict said that the notification of the transfer of judges is not being declared null and void. The President should decide the issue of seniority as soon as possible. Until the President decides the seniority, the acting Chief Justice Sardar Sarfaraz Dogar will continue to conduct the affairs.
The majority verdict was given by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Bilal Shahid Bilal Hassan and Justice Salahuddin Pahanwar of the Supreme Court, while Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Justice Shakeel Ahmed dissented from the majority.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had reserved its verdict in the judges transfer case after the completion of the arguments.
During the hearing of the judges transfer case, PTI founder Idrees Ashraf’s lawyer argued that the court should interpret the articles of the constitution in a consistent manner. There is a conflict between Article 200 and Article 175.
Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar said that the Judicial Commission has no authority to transfer, to which the lawyer replied that there cannot be a permanent transfer on the vacant judge’s seat. The Attorney General said that the enrollment of a judge with seniority number 3 in the Islamabad High Court is with the Islamabad Bar Council.
Justice Naeem Afghan inquired during the hearing whether any judge was transferred under Article 200 in the past? To which the Attorney General said that there is no example of judges transfer in the past. The role of the President and the Prime Minister in judges transfer is limited. The Chief Justice is also involved in the process of judges transfer. Bad intentions cannot be attributed to the process of judges transfer.
Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar remarked that a complete procedure for the transfer of judges is given in Article 200.
The Attorney General said that no request was made against the Prime Minister’s advice and business rules.
Lawyer Munir A Malik told the court that he never said that the judges who came on transfer are deputationists, to which Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar said that in your application, judges are written as deputationists. How can judges be called deputationists?
After hearing the arguments, the court completed the proceedings and reserved the decision of the case, which was issued at 2 pm today.
It should be noted that Justice Sarfaraz Dogar, Justice Muhammad Asif and Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro were transferred to the Islamabad High Court. 5 judges of the Islamabad High Court had filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the transfer of 3 judges.
Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Justice Babar Sattar, and Justice Tariq Jahangiri had approached the Supreme Court against the transfer and seniority. Justice Sardar Ijaz Ishaq and Justice Saman Rifat Imtiaz are among the 5 High Court judges who approached the Supreme Court.
It should be remembered that the founder PTI and the Karachi Bar had also filed petitions against the transfer and seniority of judges.
There were 19 hearings on the petitions against the transfer and seniority of judges, the first hearing was held on April 17, while the petitions were filed in the Supreme Court on February 20.
