Zardari names Dogar IHC's senior-most judge

President Asif Ali Zardari has officially declared Justice Sardar Sarfraz Dogar as the senior-most judge of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) and confirmed the permanent transfer of Justice Dogar along with two other judges.

Following the president's decision, a new seniority list of IHC judges was released through a gazette notification dated June 27, 2025.

According to the notification, Justice Sarfraz Dogar, who had earlier been serving on transfer, has been placed at the top of the seniority list of the IHC.

Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani has been listed second and will serve as the senior puisne judge. Justice Mian Gul Hassan Aurangzeb follows in third position, while Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Justice Babar Sattar and Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan have been listed fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively.

Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir ranks seventh, followed by Justice Saman Riffat Imtiaz in eighth place.

Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro, another transferred judge, is listed ninth, while Justice Azam Khan, Justice Muhammad Asif (transferred from Quetta) and Justice Inam Amin Minhas occupy the tenth, eleventh and twelfth positions respectively.

The matter of confirming the permanency of transferred judges and finalising the updated seniority had been sent to the president for approval. It marks a major turn in the ongoing judges transfer case, which has seen increased legal contestation in recent weeks.

However, the controversy continues to brew. Just two days before the new list was issued, five IHC judges filed a formal appeal against the Supreme Court's decision, arguing that the transfers undermined the Constitution's clear stipulations on judicial appointments and seniority.

On June 27, five judges of the Islamabad High Court had filed an appeal against the Supreme Court's earlier ruling, requesting a stay on the president's implementation of that judgment. They urged the court to bar the president from acting on the decision until the matter could be fully adjudicated.

The judges - Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Justice Babar Sattar, Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz — had earlier submitted a representation challenging the basis of the transfers.

They contended that a judge transferred to another high court must take a fresh oath and that their seniority should be determined from the date of their new appointment, not their original judicial service.

According to the petition, this means the transferred judges should rank below the sitting IHC justices who were already part of the court. The dissenting judges had also refrained from attending Justice Dogar's oath-taking ceremony as acting chief justice of the IHC — a symbolic protest that underlined the deepening rift within the bench.

The legal community now awaits the July 1 meeting of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP), which is expected to take up the matter of permanent appointments of chief justices to the Islamabad, Sindh and Peshawar High Courts.

The names of Justice Dogar, Justice Kayani, and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb are currently under consideration for the IHC slot.