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• LBA challenges 27th Amendment; plea terms repeal of Article 184(3) and ‘now-inserted’ Article 175(2) ‘unconstitutional’
• Justices Kayani, Sattar included in LHC and PHC rosters for next week
ISLAMABAD: A day after the government notified the transfer of three Islamabad High Court (IHC) judges to other high courts, the Lahore Bar Association (LBA) moved the Supreme Court on Thursday to challenge the constitutionality of the 27th Constitutional Amendment under which these transfers were made.
On Tuesday, the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) approved the transfer of three judges from the IHC — Justices Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Babar Sattar and Saman Rafat Imtiaz — to other high courts in a move that drew sharp criticism from lawyers’ bodies for “lacking transparency and uniform criteria”.
Also on Thursday, the names of Justices Kayani and Sattar were included in the rosters of the high courts to which they have been transferred.
Senior counsel Hamid Khan approached the SC, instead of the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC), on behalf of LBA President Irfan Hayat Bajwa, seeking a declaration that the recent transfer of three judges from the IHC to other high courts was unconstitutional and of no legal effect.
The bar association also requested the SC to declare the omission and repeal of Article 184(3) of the Constitution — an inherent jurisdiction of the SC for the enforcement of fundamental rights now revoked through the 27th Amendment — as “void, unconstitutional and of no effect, being against the basic/salient features of the Constitution”.
The petition has also sought a declaration that the now-inserted Article 175(2), as amended by the 27th Amendment, was void and unconstitutional, and that its formation was also unconstitutional, as it was against the constitutional fundamentals, which parliament had no power to change or amend.
“In the absence of any substantive and disclosed reasons, criteria, or demonstrable institutional necessity, the transfers of IHC judges are unlawful and liable to be declared arbitrary, mala fide in law, and based on extraneous considerations,” the petition pleaded.
Similarly, it stated that the transfers had been made without any disclosed reasons, criteria, or demonstrable public interest, thereby rendering the exercise of power arbitrary, opaque and liable to be set aside.
“The Constitution does not contemplate an unstructured or ad hoc exercise of transfer powers,” the petition added.
It also argued that the 27th Amendment omitted Article 184(3), under which the SC had original jurisdiction to enforce the Constitution and fundamental rights of the people, and that the judicial power of the apex court could not be taken away by another branch of the government, ie parliament.
“Such an amendment undermines the Constitution and destroys the independence of the judiciary,” it contended.
The petition also explained that the judges of the FCC, being beneficiaries and judges in their own cause, as well as the creation and jurisdiction of the federal court itself having been challenged through this plea, could not hear and decide the constitutionality of the 27th Amendment and matters arising thereunder.
Moreover, the action of transferring judges of the IHC under Article 200, as amended by the 27th Amendment, cannot be heard by the “so-called FCC”, being itself a creation of that amendment, the petition argued.
Named in rosters
In a related development, Justices Kayani and Sattar will begin presiding over proceedings at the Lahore High Court (LHC) and the Peshawar High Court (PHC), respectively, in the coming week.
The LHC’s revised roster for May 4 to July 4 shows that Justice Kayani will preside over proceedings as a judge on a single bench at the court’s principal seat.
The roster, notified by Additional Registrar (Judicial) Shabbir Hussain Shah, shows that 27 single benches and nine division benches have been constituted at the principal seat for this period.
Meanwhile, according to the PHC’s roster for May 4-7, Justice Sattar will preside over proceedings as part of a division bench at the court’s principal seat on Monday.
The roster, approved by PHC Chief Justice SM Attique Shah, lists nine single benches and one division bench, headed by Justice Wiqar Ahmad and also including Justice Sattar.
Wajih Ahmad Sheikh in Lahore and Waseem Ahmad Shah in Peshawar also contributed to this report
Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2026
