ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the shifting of all subordinate courts to Islamabad presently working in Rawalpindi.

A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, in a suo moto case, directed to the registrars Islamabad and Lahore high courts to submit report in this regard on August 6.

During the course of hearing advocates Sajid Bhatti and Zulfiqar Abbas Naqvi argued that NAB was ready to vacate the Girls Hostel and shift the courts to the New Judicial Complex Rawalpindi.

While Syed Nayyab Hassan Gardezi, President Islamabad High Court, who was also a party to the case argued that according to National Accountability Ordinance it is the prerogative of the federal government to shift/ constitute all the subordinate courts.

The Section Six of Islamabad High Court Act 2010 also says that these courts should be shifted to Islamabad, he added.

The shifting of these courts was a long standing demand of the Islamabad lawyers’ community as these courts had been working in Rawalpindi since their constitution.