Lahore High Court’s (LHC) Justice Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar is among three judges assigned to Islamabad High Court (IHC) amid speculations that the capital court’s next chief justice would be a “transferred judge.”

According to a notification issued by the Ministry of Law and Justice, Justice Dogar, Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro from Sindh High Court and Justice Muhammad Asif from Balochistan High Court were transferred to the federal territory’s court.

The notification stated that President Asif Ali Zardari approved the transfer in exercise of the powers conferred under clause (1) of Article 200 of the Constitution.

The development came a day after five IHC judges expressed concerns over media reports claiming that a “transferred judge” would be considered for IHC’s top slot.

The letter — signed by Justices Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Babar Sattar, Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan and Saman Rafat Imtiaz — was addressed to Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi, IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq, LHC Chief Justice Aalia Neelum, and Sindh High Court Chief Justice Mohammad Shafi Siddiqui.

The letter had the names of Justices Arbab Muhammad Tahir and Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, but their signatures were missing.

The letter came as incumbent Chief Justice Aamer Farooq is being considered for elevation to the Supreme Court. The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP), scheduled to meet on Feb 10, would pick eight judges from five high courts.

Traditionally, the senior puisne judge of a high court is appointed as the chief justice. However, the JCP last year introduced new rules to bypass the seniority criterion following the enactment of the 26th Amendment.

The judicial commission proposed that the chief justice of a high court could be appointed from among the panel of five senior-most judges. 

In the letter, the judges urged the CJP Yahya Afridi not to advise the President to undertake any such transfer, noting that the purpose of the transfer from the Lahore High Court, as being reported, is that the transferred judge is to be considered for the position of the Chief Justice of the Islamabad High Court.

“This just cannot be under the Constitution. The transferred judge would need to take a fresh oath under Article 194 of the Constitution, for serving in a new High Court. Correspondingly, his seniority would be determined from the date of the oath he takes to serve at the Islamabad High Court,” the letter stated.

“Such a permanent transfer of a judge to the Islamabad High Court would be against the spirit of the Constitution, detrimental to the independence of the judiciary, usurpation of established judicial norms, and also wholly unjustifiable. It would set a pernicious precedent whose ramifications are going to be extremely far-reaching,” it concluded.

Earlier, The News reported that lawyers of Islamabad came out against the appointment of the chief justice of the IHC from another high court. They have demanded that no judge other than the judges of the Islamabad High Court be made the chief justice of the IHC.

President Islamabad High Court Bar Association Riasat Ali Azad and President Islamabad Bar Association Naeem Ali Gujjar issued a joint statement on behalf of both the bars in which the authorities have been warned that no judge other than the judges of the IHC should be appointed chief justice of the high court. They also hinted at a nationwide protest call if the demands of the lawyers were not met.