ISLAMABAD:
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has ruled that the chief justice is the “Master of the List” and has exclusive authority to constitute tribunals and allocate cases.
In a written verdict, delivered by a four-member bench hearing an intra-judicial appeal against an earlier IHC order directing the issuance of contempt of court notices to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the federal cabinet, the court observed that a bench of the high court does not acquire legal existence merely by virtue of the physical presence or status of its judges.
“[A bench is formed] only after constitution and assignment of work through a list duly approved by the president of the Supreme Court in accordance with article 202 of the Constitution and the applicable rules of the superior court.
The order said that no judge or court can self-assign, initiate, retain, transfer or assume jurisdiction over a matter except through the institutional mechanism controlled by the Chief Justice. Any attempt to do so amounts to an impermissible assumption of competence.
The judgment held that the Chief Justice may consolidate identical or substantially similar petitions at any stage to ensure consistency, avoid conflicting judgments and promote judicial efficiency, and is under no legal obligation to obtain the consent of any court before hearing the matter.
On July 21, 2025, contempt proceedings were initiated against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and cabinet members for allegedly ignoring court instructions to provide reasons for not attending a US court hearing the case of imprisoned neuroscientist Dr. Aafia Siddiqui.
In a three-page order written by Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, the court had ordered initiation of contempt proceedings, declaring all members of the federal government as defendants and seeking their responses within two weeks.
Justice Ejaz Ishaq Khan noted that the government had been given time to respond but did not do so, warning that inaction would lead to contempt proceedings.
The federal government had earlier approached the Supreme Court on July 15, 2025, seeking to revoke an IHC order of May 16, 2025 allowing amendments to a previously decided petition on Dr Aafia Siddiqui almost a decade after it was filed.
Justice Ejaz Ishaq Khan, who was scheduled to go on summer vacation from July 21, had earlier announced that he would hear the case on that date. However, the matter was not listed before his court on the official cause list.
However, he heard the case and later issued the contempt order, which also contained harsh criticism of IHC Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar and other post-26th Amendment judicial developments.
The government later filed an intra-judicial appeal against the order before a larger four-member bench headed by Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir.
The court ruled that the July 21, 2025 contempt order was issued by a court that “never came into legal existence under the approved list” and therefore lacked jurisdiction.
Consequently, the court recalled the July 21 order in Writ Petition No. 3139 of 2015 (Dr. Fowzia Siddiqui vs. Federation of Pakistan etc.), stating that the court which issued the order was not legally constituted.
