A notification issued by the law ministry on Thursday said “In terms of Article 175 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, as amended by the Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act, 2010, the High Court for Islamabad Capital Territory is hereby established at Islamabad with immediate effect.”

The high court will start functioning after appointment of judges. Law Minister Babar Awan said that the chief justice and judges of the IHC would be appointed from all units of the federation.

Law ministry sources said that former IHC judges were expected to be reappointed.

“Staffers of the high court will also be summoned to their previous posts from the surplus pool following restoration of the court,” the minister said.

He said that besides IHC, the federal capital will have 10 special courts that would take up cases relating to environment, narcotics, labour, banking, consumer and others.

The Supreme Court last year declared the Islamabad High Court as illegal, saying it had been established under the Provisional Constitutional Order imposed by former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf of Nov 3, 2007.

In its July 31 judgment, the apex court had struck down the order of establishment of the IHC and reverted the judicial system to the status of Nov 2, 2007. All the judges who were part of the judiciary on Nov 2, 2007, had been ordered to return to original courts. All judges who were not part of the judiciary had been ordered to cease acting as judges.

The IHC employees had been ordered back to their original positions or to the federal surplus pool.

The Supreme Court, under Justice Hameed Dogar, had decided in favour of the establishment of IHC. But its creation was delayed because of a stay order issued by the Lahore High Court after its establishment was challenged. The IHC was to start functioning in Feb 2008.