Let IHC judges be heard

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The plausible deputation of a judge at Islamabad High Court is under an intricate procedural debate. Five judges of the IHC have taken strong exception to the proposed move, and have written a letter to their Lords, at the apex court and in provinces, soliciting their lawful intervention and interpretation of the established norms, wherein under Article 200 any such permanent transfer from a province of a judge is tantamount to a "fraud on the Constitution".

The apparent game-plan of the government is to replicate the module exercised at the top court by superseding the senior-most judge, and appoint someone from the backbenchers as the new chief justice of IHC. The reported transfer in pipeline of a judge from Lahore or Sindh has stirred unrest as it is conventionally ultra vires, and detrimental to the independence of judiciary.

While the high courts are "independent and autonomous", the IHC judges' contention is lawful as justices who are elevated to a particular court take oath under Article 194 with respect to a particular province, or for the purposes of the Islamabad High Court. Moreover, there is no conception of a unified federal judicial service in Pakistan, and any transferred judge would have to take a fresh oath for serving in a new high court, which means losing seniority, per se. Last but not least, the controversial 26th amendment too did not introduce any changes to Article 200 and, thus, the conception of each court being separate and autonomous under the system of federalism is still in vogue.

The IHC judges, who are in a crisscross with the establishment as six of them having written a similar letter earlier complaining of executive and secret services blatant interference, have once again taken a principled stance. The tendency of subjugating and pressurising the courts for attaining vested political objectives is now taking a toll, and has literally undermined the very existence of an independent judiciary. That is why the letter says the pernicious transfer would have far-reaching ramifications, and it is high time the mindset of appointing like-minded judges was done away with.