ISLAMABAD: The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) on Monday dismissed for non-prosecution a set of intra-court appeals filed by five Islamabad High Court (IHC) judges against the now-defunct Supreme Court’s constitutional bench decision to uphold the transfer of three judges to the IHC.

While the sitting IHC judges also filed a miscellaneous petition on Saturday contesting the shifting of their intra-court appeals from the apex court to the newly established FCC and demanding that the matters be returned to the SC as they constitutionally fall within the apex court’s jurisdiction, there was no occasion to hear the miscellaneous plea after the main ones were dismissed for non-prosecution.

The IHC judges who had earlier approached the SC against the constitutional bench decision and later contested the shifting of their challenge to the newly created FCC were Justices Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Babar Sattar, Sardar Ijaz Ishaq Khan and Saman Rafat Imtiaz.

On the other hand, the FCC adjourned the hearing of three similar app­e­als — out of a total of nine petitions — for an indefinite period when senior counsel Idrees Ashraf, representing Pakistan Teh­­reek-i-Insaf (PTI) foun­­der Imran Khan, sought directions from the court to ensure his meeting with his client, who is incarcerated at Adiala jail.

The counsel submitted that he required instructions from his client in light of the changed circumstances following the passage of the 27th Amendment. He argued that meeting his client was essential for filing additional grounds because his earlier appeal had been moved against the SC’s short order.

Chief Justice Aminuddin Khan, who was heading the six-judge FCC bench, rejected the request, observing that the counsel should approach the forum that had sentenced his client, as the plea did not fall within FCC’s jurisdiction. But the counsel maintained that such a direction by the FCC would satisfy the requirement of complete justice under Article 187.

In his appeal, Mr Ashraf had argued that the constitutional bench’s decision undermined safeguards intended to preserve judicial independence by circumventing the constitutionally mandated appointment process. By a three to two majority, the June 19 judgement of the now-defunct constitutional bench had held that the transfer of three judges to the IHC from different high courts was within the constitutional framework.

On Monday, the FCC also adjourned two other appeals after Advocate Ajmal Toor, appearing for senior counsel Hamid Khan, who was representing the Lahore High Court Bar and the Lahore High Court Bar Association, sought time due to the senior counsel’s unavailability. The court subsequently adjourned proceedings indefinitely.

The FCC had taken up various petitions filed by Justice Mohsin Kayani through senior counsel Muneer A. Malik; Tahir Faraz Abbasi through Abid Shahid Zuberi; Raja Muqsit Nawaz Khan and Imran Khan through Idrees Ashraf; the Lahore High Court Bar Asso­cia­tion and the Lahore Bar Association through Ha­­mid Khan; the Karachi Bar Association; Muham­mad Shoaib Shaheen; and Riasat Ali Azad through Faisal Siddiqi.

At the outset, when the case was called, the court associate announced the names of all counsel representing the various petitioners, but none appeared. The FCC CJ then dismissed each case individually, dictating separate orders.

Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2025