FCC rejects intra-court appeal filed by IHC judges in judges transfer case

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) on Monday rejected a set of intra-court appeals, including one filed by five Islamabad High Court (IHC) judges in a judges transfer case, for non-prosecution.

The case pertains to the transfer of three judges from other high courts to the federal capital, and the IHC judges had challenged a decision by the now-defunct Constitutional Bench (CB) of the Supreme Court to uphold the transfers.

However, the appeal was fixed before the FCC following its establishment under the 27th Amendment.

A six-member FCC bench, headed by Chief Justice Aminuddin Khan and comprising Justices Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Ali Baqar Najafi, Muhammad Karim Khan Agha, Rozi Khan Barrech and Arshad Hussain Shah, took up nine appeals pertaining to the case on Monday.

As the proceedings began, the court associate called out the names of each of the lawyers representing different clients, and when they did not appear, the FCC dismissed six of those appeals one at a time, dictating separate orders for each plea.

The rejected appeals included the one filed by IHC Justices Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Babar Sattar, Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, Saman Rafat Imtiaz and Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri. These judges were also not present at the hearing.

Apart from the appeal moved by the five judges through senior counsel Muneer A. Malik, the FCC also took up pleas filed by Tahir Faraz Abbasi through Advocate Abid Shahid Zuberi, Raja Muqsit Nawaz Khan and PTI founder Imran Khan through counsel Idrees Ashraf, the Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) and Lahore Bar Association (LBA) through counsel Hamid Khan, and the Karachi Bar Association, Muhammad Shoaib Shaheen and Riasat Ali Azad through counsel Faisal Siddiqi.

From these nine appeals, the FCC adjourned the hearing on three pleas for an indefinite period. Monitoring Desk