IHC judge slams 'questionable' transfer of civil appeals

A new legal and administrative front has emerged at the Islamabad High Court (IHC) over the issue of appeals against civil court decisions being redirected to district courts, as Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan raised serious questions over the process and deemed the entire move "questionable".

The matter surfaced during the hearing of cases previously assigned to two additional judges, which were recently sent back to district courts following an administrative decision.

During the proceedings, Additional Registrar Ejaz Ahmed appeared before the court and stated that the decision to reassign such appeals had originated from a 2023 full court meeting, where the issue was discussed.

According to the additional registrar, he merely submitted a note to the chief justice, who subsequently constituted a division bench that ordered the reassignment of the cases to district courts.

However, Justice Ejaz Ishaq observed that the full court meeting in question was consultative in nature and did not culminate in any final binding decision. He noted that any such reassignment of pending appeals could only have been authorised by the full court, not by a division bench.

The judge also pointed out that no input or opinion had been sought from the judges who were already hearing the appeals, despite the fact that hearings in some of these cases were nearly 80 per cent complete.

Referring to the practical consequences of the decision, he remarked that returning the cases to the district courts would not only waste judicial time but also cause undue hardship to litigants.