ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court Bar Association (IHCBA) has withdrawn its support to the five judges seniority dispute, dealing a significant blow to the case being heard by the Supreme Court.

The IHCBA`s office bearers also revealed that the former President Riasat Ali Azad had dragged the bar association in the controversy without authorisation and decided to withdraw the petition against the revised seniority of the IHC.

The previous bar president Azad had submitted a petition in the Supreme Court before his term expired. However, the current bar representatives, led by its president Syed Wajid Ali Shah Gillani, `found no formal record such as meeting minutes of the executive body,` authorising Mr Azad to file the petitionin the SC on behalf of the association.

The revelations were made a day before the Supreme Court scheduled to hear identical petitions, including the one filed by five senior IHC judges.

A five-member constitutional bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar and comprising Justices Naeem Akhtar Afghan, Shahid Bilal, Salahuddin Panhwar and Shakeel Ahmed, will take up petitions filed by the IHC judges, the Karachi Bar Association (KBA), the Lahore High Court Bar Association and District Bar Association Lahore.

On the other hand, Justices Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Babar Sattar, Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan,and Saman Rafat Imtiaz have sought a court declaration that judges transferred to the IHC cannot be considered permanent members of the court until they take oath under Article 194 of the Constitution and requested the apexcourt to set aside the seniority list that lowered their ranks.

They have also challenged the seniority list considered by the Judicial Commission of Pakistan on Feb 10, arguing that it `wrongfully` included the transferred judges, leading to improper recommendations for elevation to the Supreme Court.

The petitioners demand that the Feb 12 notification issued for the appointment of Justice Sardar Mohammad Sarfraz Dogar as acting chief justice of the IHC be set aside, asserting that he was `ineligible under constitutional provisions`.

The IHCBA`s petition sought the same relief and the ex President Azad also appointed senior lawyer Faisal Siddiqui as counsel of the Bar Association.The incumbent body of the IHCBA, however, noted that it was a solo flight of the ex President that too without authorisation of the mandatory approval of the executive committee. As per the decision of the IHCBA`s executive committee held on April 15, the committee unanimously resolved not to pursue the judges seniority case. It stated that `the case pertains to judges seniority, the judges have filed a petition before the Supreme Court, the IHCBA is not an aggrieved party`.

It further states: `The members of the executive committee emphasised that this is a constitutional matter and need to be addressed constitutionally, therefore, IHCBA`s peti-tion which was pending before the Supreme Court be withdrawn.

As per the declaration, the IHCBA perused and found that the ex-President filed the petition in the Supreme Court without any authorisation of the executive body.

Subsequently, the IHCBA authorized advocate on record (AOR) Anis Ahmed `to withdraw the constitutional petition No. 23/2025 pending before the Supreme Court.` Mr Azad on the other hand said that he was authorised to file the petition.

He also shared with Dawn a resolution that empowered him to file petition in judges seniority dispute.

The resolution however carries signature of five members.