By staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD The Supreme Court of Pakistan’s registrar on Monday dismissed petitions from five sitting Islamabad High Court judges challenging their chief justice’s administrative authority, citing procedural flaws and a 1998 precedent barring personal grievances from being addressed under the court’s original jurisdiction.
The decision intensifies a rare public rift within the judiciary. Justices Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Babar Sattar, Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, and Saman Raffat Imtiaz personally filed constitutional petitions last Friday under Article 184(3) of the Constitution, which allows the Supreme Court to address matters of fundamental rights and public importance.
The registrar’s office, however, found the petitions lacking. It cited the 1998 Zulfiqar Mehdi case, which held that Article 184(3) cannot be used for individual complaints. The judges failed to demonstrate a broader “public importance” issue, a prerequisite for invoking the provision.
The office also noted that notices to respondents — Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar, the high court registrar, and the federal government via the law secretary — were improperly drafted, lacking clarity on the petitions’ purpose.
The five judges, in identical filings, accused Chief Justice Dogar of misusing administrative powers in ways that erode judicial independence. They argued that once a bench is assigned a case, the chief justice cannot unilaterally transfer matters, reconfigure benches, or exclude judges from rosters.
Citing Articles 192(1) and 202 of the Constitution, they contended that bench formations, case assignments, and roster issuances must follow strict constitutional guidelines. They also referenced a 2024 Supreme Court ruling in the Practice and Procedure case, which overturned the “Master of the Roster” doctrine giving chief justices wide discretion.
Additionally, the judges challenged notifications issued on Feb. 3 and July 15 establishing Islamabad High Court administrative committees, calling them illegal and mala fide, and urged the Supreme Court to void them.
On the same day, the registrar returned a separate petition by Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, a former senator and leader of the Tehreek-e-Tahafuz Aaeen-e-Pakistan, who sought a full court hearing for challenges to the 26th Constitutional Amendment.
That filing was rejected for similar reasons: failure to articulate a public interest question and reliance on Article 184(3) for what was deemed an individual grievance.
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