LAHORE, Dec 25: A division bench of the Lahore High Court will take up an intra-court appeal, challenging the dismissal of a writ petition which raised questions of the appointment of five judges in the high court on the ground of the principles of seniority and legitimacy of expectancy.

The constitutional petition, moved by the Watan Party through Barrister Zafarullah Khan, was dismissed by Justice Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmad towards the end of October holding that the five judges were elevated to the high court on the recommendations of the chief justice of Pakistan and the chief justice of the Lahore High Court. The court said these recommendations were not justiciable as ruled by the Supreme Court in PLD 2000 SC 179.

The intra-court appeal was filed soon after the judgment. The LHC registrar office fixed it before a division bench on Dec 20 and then again on Dec 22, but it was not included in the daily cause list for the day on both the occasions.

The petition and the appeal submitted that the elevation of Justice Pervez Ahmad, Justice Chaudhry Iftikhar Husain, Justice Farrukh Lateef, Justice Syed Sakhi Husain Bokhari and Justice Rustam Ali Malik was made in violation of the seniority of the district and sessions judges. They presided over accountability courts in Attock, Lahore and Islamabad before promotion and were rewarded for it. Justice Pervez, who was the presiding of the accountability court in Attock, later retired on April 9 this year.

The state, represented by Deputy Attorney-General Dr Danishwar Malik, argued that the word seniority did not stand qualified under article 193 of the constitution and the contention raised in this regard lacked legal backing. He also questioned the locus standi of the petitioner and submitted that none of the judges, who the petitioner claimed was aggrieved, had raised the question of the appointment.