Only 4 IHC judges to hear cases this week

Justice Lubna Saleem becomes latest court staff to contract Covid-19

After the only female judge of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) contracted the novel coronavirus (Covid-19), the court has decided to make changes to its duty roster for judges to hear cases during the ongoing week, a notification read on Sunday.

Justice Lubna Saleem is the latest high court staff to have tested positive for the virus. Officials said that after receiving her reports, she has self-isolated at home.

They added that at least 11 employees of the high court, including the IHC’s assistant registrar, secretaries of three judges, a steno-typist, and others had contracted the virus before Justice Saleem.

Hence, the court management has made changes in the duty roster and now only four of the seven judges will be available to hear cases this week. A notification issued by the court on Sunday read that only IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, and Justice Fiaz Ahmad Jandran will hear cases this week.

Meanwhile, Justice Aamer Farooq, Justice Saleem, and Justice Ghulam Azam Qambrani have been recused from the roster for the entire week. As a result, only four, single-benches comprising on-duty judges will function this week. A single divisional bench and a special divisional bench will also operate during the week.

The single, divisional benches, will comprise Justice Kayani and Justice Jandran and will hear cases from Monday through Thursday.

While the notification mentioned that a special, divisional bench will sit this week, it did not list which of the judges will sit on it.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 22^nd, 2020.