Judges transfer case adjourned till 29th

A constitutional bench (CB) of the Supreme Court on Tuesday noted that it had received responses from all the respondents in a case related to transfer of judges to the Islamabad High Court (IHC) while urging the counsel for petitioners not to take too much time to submit his reply.

The five-member CB led by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar resumed hearing a slew of petitions filed against transfer of three judges from three different provincial high courts to the IHC and the subsequent updating of the court's judge seniority list.

The Ministry of Law on February 1 issued a notification for the transfer of Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar, Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro and Justice Muhammad Asif—respectively from the Lahore High Court, the Sindh High Court and the Balochistan High Court—to the IHC.

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, the then IHC chief justice, Aamer Farooq rejected these representations. After elevation of Justice Farooq to the Supreme Court, Justice Dogar was also elevated as the IHC acting chief justice.

The IHC judges, PTI founder Imran Khan, and four different bar associations were among the seven petitioners who challenged Justice Aamer Farooq's order in the Supreme Court.

During the hearing on Tuesday, Justice Mazhar told counsel for one of the petitioners—Munir A Malik—that the court had received responses from the respondents. He asked Malik if he was going to present a reply to the responses.

Malik replied he would submit a written reply. When the court asked him as to how much time he needed to present his reply, he sought time till the next Thursday.

Justice Mazhar asked him as to why he needed so much time. He said a lot of lawyers were to present their arguments.