A full court meeting of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday approved the Establishment Service Rules and the Practice and Procedure Rules by a narrow 65 majority, without any discussion.
The meeting, chaired by IHC Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar, was attended by all 11 judges and lasted only 35 minutes. According to sources, one judge requested a short postponement to allow for discussion and consultation, but the request was declined.
The Establishment Service Rules and the Practice and Procedure Rules were approved by majority vote without discussion. The sources said that out of 11 judges, 6 voted in favour of the approval, while 5 voted against.
Chief Justice Dogar, Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir, Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro, Justice Muhammad Azam Khan, Justice Muhammad Asif, and Justice Inaam Amin Minhas voted in favour of approving the rules.
Senior Puisne Judge Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Justice Babar Sattar, Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, and Justice Suman Rafat Imtiaz opposed the approval.
The demand by two judges to amend the agenda of the full court meeting was also rejected. Letters by Justice Babar Sattar and Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq regarding changes to the meeting agenda were not taken up for discussion.
According to sources, during the full court meeting, it was revealed that the initial draft of the amendments to the Service Rules had allegedly gone missing. The matter of the missing initial draft of the amendments was also raised in the meeting.
In the full court meeting, all judges unanimously approved the first two agenda items, which included referring the matter of the defects in the IHC building to the government and decisions regarding the powers of family court judges.
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