ISLAMABAD: The absorption of 12 judges in different courts of the federal capital has been challenged in the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

Hearing the petition filed by Civil Judge (east) Mohammad Shabbir, a two-member division bench of the IHC issued notices to the IHC registrar and the judges who were earlier working on deputation in Islamabad and later absorbed in the local judiciary.

The judges included District and Sessions Judge (DSJ) Syed Kausar Abbas Zaidi, currently working as the Anti-Terrorism Court judge; DSJ Mohammad Bashir, judge accountability court; acting DSJ Kamran Basharat Mufti, ADSJ Wajid Ali, ADSJ Mohammad Azam Khan, ADSJ Shahrukh Arjumand, civil judges Qudratullah, Mohammad Abbas, Ihtesham Alam Khan, Mohammad Inamullah, Humayun Dilawar and Imran Khan Sikandari.

The bench, comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, sought comments from the IHC registrar.

Hafiz Arfat Chaudhry, the counsel for the petitioner, adopted before the court that his client was a judicial officer and currently posted to the district judiciary of Islamabad (east) as a civil judge. He said after its establishment in 2010, the IHC framed the Islamabad Judicial Service Rules 2011 to appoint judges and run the district judiciary in the Islamabad capital territory.

Subsection 3 of section 6 of the Islamabad High Court Act 2010 provides: “The Judges of the subordinate judiciary working on deputation shall be sent back to the respective High Court after establishment of the subordinate judiciary for the Islamabad Capital Territory.”

Petitioner says under Islamabad High Court Act 2010, judges working on deputation in Islamabad were to be sent back to their parent departments

The petition explained that the intent and command of the IHC Act 2010 was to send back/repatriate the judicial officers already working in Islamabad to their parent departments. But the provision of this section was altogether ignored. The petition contended that Rule 8 of IJS Rules 2011 was introduced arbitrarily and with mala fide intentions just to procure appointments of the judicial officers of choice without passing through the procedure prescribed in these rules.

Rule 8 of IJS Rules 2011 is in clear conflict/violation of subsection 3 Section 6 of the IHC Act 2010, hence void ab initio and deserved to be deleted, it added.

Before the promulgation of IJS Rules 2011, some judicial officers of different ranks were working on deputation in Islamabad. By operation of subsection 3 of section 6 of IHC Act 2010, they were to be sent back to their respective high courts after the establishment of the district judiciary.

Except Syed Muzaffar Ali Shah, ADSJ, Atiqur Rehman, DSJ and ADSJ Mufti, all other judicial officers were sent back to the Lahore High Court in February 2012. Mr Rehman retired from service in June 2016.

Syed Muzaffar Ali Shah and ADSJ Mufti were absorbed one step above on March 28, 2011. The petition claimed that their absorption was in clear violation of subsection 3 of Section 6 of the IHC Act 2010, hence void ab initio.

It pointed out that the IHC registrar on April 9, 2013, repatriated ADSJ Syed Muzaffar Ali Shah but no action was taken against Mr Mufti who was also absorbed.

The counsel stated that the absorption of the judicial officers had affected the seniority and promotion of the petitioner. It said the petitioner had the privilege of enjoying his fundamental rights and to be dealt with in accordance with the law.

It requested the court that the absorption of the 12 judges in the subordinate judiciary of Islamabad may be declared illegal and the judges may be sent back to their parent departments. The IHC bench would hear the petition in the last week of April.

Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2017