Islamabad:
The fate of Judge Sarfraz Dragar as the next president of the Superior Court of Islamabad (IHC) remains in balance after the president of the Supreme Court of Pakistan Yahya Afridi supported on Tuesday the opinion of four judges of the judges of the Supreme Court on The age of IHC judges.
Judge Dogar was one of the three judges transferred last week to the IHC of the Provincial Superior Courts of Punjab, Sindh and Baluchistan. After this transfer, the IHC issued a new list of seniority, classifying Justice to tell as a senior judge of Puisne.
Five IHC judges then submitted representations against the Dargar Justice. However, the president of the Supreme Court of IHC, Aamer Farooq, whose elevation to the SC has already been approved by the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP), rejected these representations on Monday.
IHC judges had argued that once Judge Dogar provided oath as judge of the IHC, his age would need to be determined from the date on which the oath was administered. Therefore, Dangar Justice would be less in ancient times than the judges who lent their oaths before him.
Four SC Judges, Justice, Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Judge Munib Akhtar, Judge Ayesha Malik and Judge Athar Minallah, in their letter to CJ Afridi also supported the position taken by five IHC judges.
Speaking with the journalists of the Court on Tuesday, CJ Afridi said that it mainly agreed with four SC judges about the age of IHC judges. He said that the name of Justice Dogar should not have been in the list of IHC judges considered to raise the SC.
The CJ said he believed that there is a judicial forum to decide on the issue of seniority of the IHC judge. Judge Shah and Judge Munib Akhtar are also the members of the JCP.
During the JCP meeting on February 10, two members: the justice Jamal Khan Commandkhail and the member of the Council of the Bar Association of Pakistan (PBC), Akhtar Hussain, also raised concerns about the new list of seniority of IHC judges. Both did not agree with Judge Aamer Faooq’s elevation proposal to SC, the sources said.
It is known that the members of the independent group are not happy with the position adopted by the representative of PBC Akhtar Hussain about the age of IHC judges, as well as to oppose the elevation of two judges of the Superior Court of Lahore for their integrity.
A JCP of 15 members led by CJ Aphridi will decide on the next president of the Supreme Court of IHC at its next meeting. Eight votes will be required for the appointment. The Government has six votes so far.
Judge Aminuddin Khan is supporting each executive movement during JCP meetings. Even if Judge Khan supports the government’s nominee for the position of the next president of the IHC Supreme Court, the Executive will still need one more vote.
It is likely that the representative of the Council of the Bar Association of Islamabad in the JCP, Zulfiqar Abbasi, does not vote for the elevation of the judge to give as the next president of the Supreme Court of IHC, since the lawyers of the capital have already taken a strong Posture against your transfer.
A main lawyer, however, said that the Government transferred the justice to give the IHC and guarantee its elevation as the next president of the IHC Supreme Court at any cost. The Government took over the IHC the day it transferred to three judges, he said.
“The judges, whose integrity is questionable, are being rewarded while the erect and independent judges are being treated as criminals,” he added.
