Judge Sarfraz Dogar was appointed acting chief of the High Court of Islamabad (IHC) following the elevation of his predecessor to the Supreme Court.
On Wednesday, a notification issued by the Law Ministry said that President Asif Ali Zardari appointed Judge Dogar under article 196 of the Constitution “with effect on the date of his oath of his post, until the appointment of a regular chief judge ”.
Development occurred two days after the Pakistan Judicial Commission (JCP) approved on Monday the appointment of six new judges before the Supreme Court in the midst of a boycott by the legislators of Pakistan Tehreek-E-insaf (PTI) and two SCE superior judges.
According to a press release published by the JCP, a meeting was held under the chairmanship of the Chief of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi to examine the appointments for the appointment of the judges of the High Court in SC and, by the majority of its total members, appointed six judges.
The main judges of all the high lessons, with the exception of the High Court of Lahore (LHC) were among the six judges appointed. These include Judge Muhammad Hashim Khan Kakar, judge Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui, judge Salahuddin Panhwar, judge Ishtiaq Ibrahim, judge Shakeel Ahmad and judge Aamer Farooq.
The commission, also by majority of its total members, appointed judge Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb of the IHC for his appointment as an acting judge of the Supreme Court.
Earlier, three judges – of the Sindh, Balutchistan and Lahore – were transferred to the IHC, arousing serious criticism of the legal fraternity, including the judges of the IHC.
Then, Judge CJ of the IHJ Farooq made various modifications to the administrative level after the addition of three new judges. He had appointed Dogar judge as an administrative judge for the anti -terrorist courts and the courts of responsibility. Previously, judge Kayani was the administrative judge of these courts.
The five judges, contesting the seniority criteria, were of the opinion that the judges transferred from other high lessons should be an oath to reset their seniority.
Nevertheless, their representation was rejected by the chief judge of the IHC, Aamer Farooq, claiming that the new oath was not required because their seniority was calculated from the moment they took an oath in their respective high court and not on the date of their transfer.