Will govt succeed in installing Dogar as IHC CJ

The fate of Justice Sarfraz Dogar as the next chief justice of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) hangs in balance after Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi on Tuesday endorsed the opinion of four Supreme Court judges' on seniority of IHC judges.

Justice Dogar was one of the three judges transferred last week to the IHC from the provincial high courts of Punjab, Sindh, and Balochistan. Following this transfer, the IHC issued a new seniority list, ranking Justice Dogar as the senior puisne judge.

Five IHC judges later filed representations against Justice Dogar. However, IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq, whose elevation to the SC has already been approved by the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP), rejected these representations on Monday.

The IHC judges had argued that once Justice Dogar took his oath as a judge of the IHC, his seniority would need to be determined from the date on which the oath was administered to him. Therefore, Justice Dogar would be lower in seniority than the judges who took their oaths before him.

Four SC judges—Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Ayesha Malik and Justice Athar Minallah—in their letter to CJ Afridi also endorsed the stance taken by five IHC judges.

Talking to court reporters on Tuesday, CJ Afridi said he principally agreed with four SC judges on seniority of IHC judges. He said the name of Justice Dogar should not have been on the list of IHC judges considered for elevation to the SC.

The CJ said he believed that there is a judicial forum to decide about the seniority issue of the IHC judge. Justice Shah and Justice Munib Akhtar are also the members of the JCP.

During the JCP meeting on February 10, two members—Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail and Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) member Akhtar Hussain also raised concerns about the new seniority list of IHC judges. Both disagreed with the proposal for elevation of Justice Aamer Farooq to the SC, sources said.

It is learnt that members of the Independent Group are unhappy with the stance taken by PBC representative Akhtar Hussain on the seniority of IHC judges as well as opposing the elevation of two Lahore High Court judges on the ground of their integrity.

A 15-member JCP led by CJ Afridi will decide about the next IHC chief justice in its next meeting. Eight votes will be required for the appointment. The government has so far six votes.

Justice Aminuddin Khan is backing every move of the executive during JCP meetings. Even if Justice Khan endorses the government's nominee for the position of the next IHC chief justice, the executive will still need one more vote.

The Islamabad Bar Council representative in the JCP, Zulfiqar Abbasi, is not likely to vote for Justice Dogar's elevation as the next IHC chief justice as the capital lawyers have already taken a strong stance against his transfer.

A senior lawyer, however, said the government has transferred Justice Dogar to the IHC and will ensure his elevation as the next IHC chief justice at any cost. The government took over the IHC the day it transferred three judges to it, he said.

"The judges, whose integrity is questionable, are being rewarded while upright and independent judges are being treated as criminals," he added.