ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday transferred three judges from as many high courts to the Islamabad High Court (IHC), a day after five IHC judges had opposed the move in a letter sent to the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP).

According to a notification issued by the Ministry of Law and Justice, the president under Clause (1) of Article 200 of Constitution transferred Justice Mohammad Sarfraz Dogar of theLahore High Court, Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro of the Sindh High Court and Justice Mohammad Asif of the Balochistan High Court to the IHC.The transfer order was issued after the president`s consultations with the CJP and the concurrence of all highcourts` chief justices.

The judges also gave consent for their transfer to the IHC. After their transfer, they are likely to join the IHC on Monday and the IHC administration has already prepared three courtrooms for the new judges.

A day earlier, five out of ten IHC judges had opposed the transfer of a LHC judge in a letter sent to the CJP, chief justices of the IHC, LHC, and SHC that a judge from another court was being transferred for his onwards elevation as the IHC chief justice.

The incumbent IHC CJ, Aamer Farooq, is the most senior chief justice and is likely to be elevated to the Supreme Court. The Judicial Commission of Pakistan has convened a meeting to consider high court judges for eight vacancies in the apex court.

The letter was signed by justices Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Babar Sattar, Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, and Saman Rafat Imtiaz.

Interestingly, while the names of justices Miangul Aurangzeb and Arbab Tahir were also included in the letter, it did not bear their signatures.

The justices argued that the transfer of a judge from one high court to another is governed by Article 200, which required consultation between the president, CJP, and the chief justices of both the transferring and receiving high courts.

Earlier, three LHC judges Sardar Mohammad Aslam, Justice M.

Bilal Khan, and Iqbal Hameedur Rehman -were transferred to the IHC and appointed as chief justices.

Furthermore, the letter highlighted that since the passage of the 18th Amendment in 2010, no permanent high court transfershad taken place, reinforcing the autonomy of each high court. A centralconcernraisedby the IHC justices was that a transferred judge would be required to take a fresh oath under Article 194, which would place them at the bottom of the seniority list within the IHC.

This would render them ineligible for immediate considerationfor the chief justice position, contradicting the JCP Appointment Rules 2024, which mandate that the CJ of a high court must be appointed from among the three seniorjudges ofthatcourt.

`Fraud on Constitution` The justices argued that transferring a judge solely to appoint them as chief justice would be a `fraud on the Constitution` and an attempt to bypass the established appointment mechanism under Article 175A.The letter further challenged the rationale behind the transfer, citing the recentincrease in the number of judges at the IHC from 10 to 12 under the IHC (Amendment) Act, 2024. It pointed out that the LHC was already under staffed, with only 35 out of 60 judicial positions filled, compared to 10 out of 12 positions occupied in the IHC. Seemingly, the five judges forgot the sanctioned strength of IHC is 13. Last year, the government passed a bill to increase the number from 10 to 13.

The bill stated: `In view of the consistent increase in the litigation in Islamabad and as it is growing into a cultural and business hub and also it is evident from the growth of population in Islamabad that further litigation will burden the High Court, so it is imperative that number of judges in Islamabad High Court may be increased. In light of the above, it is proposed to increase the number of judges in the Islamabad High Court from nine to twelve, in addition to the chief justice.