• Asks Supreme Court to restrain new judges from performing duties
• Asserts the case is about independence of judiciary

ISLAMABAD: The Karachi Bar Association (KBA) on Monday filed a constitutional petition in the Supreme Court against the recent transfer of judges to the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

The petition has challenged the Feb 1 transfer of Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar, Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro, and Justice Muhammad Asif from the high courts of Lahore, Sindh and Balochistan, respectively, through a notification issued by the president of Pakistan under Article 200(1) of the Constitution.

Earlier, IHC’s five sitting judges had petitioned the apex court for resolving their inter se seniority. Similar petitions were also filed by PTI’s jailed founder Imran Khan and the Lahore Bar Association asking the Supreme Court to restrain the judges transferred to the IHC from performing their judicial and administrative functions.

In the fresh petition moved by senior counsel Faisal Siddiqi on behalf of the KBA, led by its general secretary Muhammad Ghulam Rehman Korai, the association regretted that the transferred judges had been immediately given prominent positions.

It mentioned that Justice Dogar was elevated to the position of senior puisne judge, despite being 15th in seniority at the LHC. The sudden change in seniority relegated the IHC’s existing judges, who had served for years, to lower positions.

The petition argued that transfers were not in the public interest but instead motivated by extraneous reasons, aimed at punishing cer­­tain judges and disrupting the functioning of the IHC. It highlig­h­ted that the transferred judges had not taken a fresh oath to serve at the IHC, as required by Article 194, and therefore could not legally perform judicial functions in the new court.

The petition regretted that when Justice Aamer Farooq, who was chief justice of IHC before the transfers were made, was elevated to the Supreme Court, Justice Dogar was appointed acting chief justice, despite having served there for less than two weeks in a bid to consolidate control over the IHC by the newly transferred judges.

The KBA raised questions whe­th­­er the transfers have violated Arti­cle 200(1), which only allows for te­­mporary transfers, and whether the changes in seniority undermined the independence of judiciary.

It also questioned the legality of the acting CJ’s appointment as Justice Dogar had not taken the required oath to serve at the IHC.

Implications

The petition said that any decision by the Supreme Court would have far-reaching implications for the future of judicial independence in Pakistan.

The KBA said it was not just a case of transfer of judges or the changes in seniority, but about a broader battle to preserve the independence of judiciary, protect the rights of citizens, and ensure that the principles of justice and fairness prevailed in the face of political interference.

The outcome of the case would determine whether the judiciary co­­­uld remain an independent and im­­partial institution, capable of up­­ho­l­ding the Constitution and safegua­rding the rights of people, it said.

The petition also urged the Sup­reme Court to pronounce that the president did not enjoy unfettered and unbridled discretion of transferring judges from one high court to another under Article 200(1) without a manifest public interest.

The petition requested the SC to ascertain that the president’s exercise of powers under Article 200(1) should be read alongside Article 175(A) without subsuming the powers of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan to appoint judges to a particular high court.

Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2025