ISLAMABAD – The Supreme Court on Thursday has dismissed the petitions filed against the transfer of judges.
The five-judge Constitutional Bench, headed by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and comprising Justices Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Babar Sattar, Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan and Saman Rafat Imtiaz, announced the verdict with 3-2 majority.
The joint petition was filed by five IHC judges — Justices Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Babar Sattar, Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan and Saman Rafat Imtiaz, arguing that three transferred judges should not be treated as Islamabad High Court judges until they take a fresh oath under Article 194.
The apex court declared the transfer of judges constitutional and ruled that Justice Sarfraz Dogar will continue to serve as the acting chief justice of the Islamabad High Court.
During the previous hearings, senior counsel Faisal Siddiqi, representing former presidents of the Islamabad High Court Bar Association, argued that the powers of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) had been undermined in the current system of transfers.
However, Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan had argued that the Third Schedule of the Constitution does not require a separate oath for the IHC judges.
He highlighted that the Constitution only referred to “high courts” for the oath, and the IHC judges had taken the same oath as those transferred from other courts.
He added that there was no such requirement of a new oath under Article 200 in case of transfer.
