ISLAMABAD, Jan 8: The government is likely to establish a federal high court (FHC) for the Capital in near future to minimize load of cases on Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi bench, and local courts, a well-informed source from the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration told Dawn on Tuesday.

The source said, the interior ministry had directed the ICT administration to prepare a comprehensive report on the issue and assess legal requirement and workload of cases in Islamabad.

The government, he added, was also reviewing the constitutional status of the proposed FHC before its establishment.

“The federal capital has a status of a province and the chief commissioner enjoys the powers of governor. Therefore, the FHC should have been set up quite earlier, Deputy Commissioner Tariq Mehmood Khan told Dawn.

He said the establishment of the proposed federal high court was an old demand of the citizens of Islamabad, as, at present, the people of the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad depended on the LHC.

A source said thousands of appeals and direct cases were being filed in the LHC and the people of Islamabad had to cover 30 to 35 kilometres to approach the LHC at Rawalpindi.

A delegation of the newly-elected office-bearers of the Islamabad Bar Association (IBA) also called on the deputy commissioner on Tuesday to know about the plan regarding formation of the FHC.

When contacted, IBA general-secretary Tariq Mehmood Jehangiri said all the local courts of Islamabad were working under the LHC and in case of petty matters, lawyers and judges of Islamabad had to contact to the LHC.

He said like general public, lawyers community was also facing problems.

The IBA general-secretary lamented that lawyers and judges having domicile of Islamabad could not become a judge of any high court of the country, because Islamabad did not fall in the jurisdiction of any province.

Responding to a question, he said the federal courts had already been working in different countries including India.

When asked what would be the constitutional status of the FHC if established in the capital, he said the government had to make necessary amendment to the Constitution or promulgate an ordinance for the formation of the FHC.

He said judges and lawyers of Islamabad should be appointed as judges of the FHC and all local courts should work under it.

Responding to a question about the strength of the FHC, Mr Jehangiri said the proposed FHC bench should comprise of at least five judges.

He said a number of government buildings in Islamabad like the old CBR building, NIRC and Naval Complex were under no use at present, therefore, the proposed FHC could be housed in any of these buildings.