The controversy over the appointment  of  judges  in  the  Islamabad  High Court deepened on Thursday after five judges of the court challenged the recent transfers in Pakistan’s Supreme Court.

Pakistan authorities last month appointed three judges to the IHC by transferring them from other high courts and shortly after appointed Justice Sarfraz Dogar as the chief justice.

Dogar made headlines when he was transferred to the IHC from the Lahore High Court (LHC). The move drew the ire of judges, lawyers and opposition parties as he was 13th on the seniority list of the judges but rose to the second position in IHC.

He rose to the top and was appointed as acting chief justice after the elevation of his predecessor, Aamer Farooq, to the Supreme Court.

His transfer to IHC and subsequent elevation was contested by five judges, including justices Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Babar Sattar, Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Saman Rafat Imtiaz, and Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, who claimed that they were senior to him and his appointment as chief justice was a violation of rules.

They filed a 49-page constitutional petition under Article 184(3) through senior lawyers Munir A. Malik and Barrister Salahuddin, arguing that the recent transfer of judges violated relevant rules.

The petition contends that judicial transfers cannot be made without public interest and should not affect the seniority list. It further states that Article 200 only allows temporary transfers, and the current process violates Article 175(A) of the Constitution.

The judges have urged the Supreme Court to invalidate the Islamabad High Court’s current seniority list, citing its inconsistency with Article 194 and the Constitution’s Third Schedule.

The petition specifically challenges the appointment of Justice Dogar as acting Chief Justice of IHC, stating that he had only served two weeks in the high court before assuming administrative control. It also calls for Justices Khalid Soomro and Muhammad Asif to be barred from judicial work. The challenge comes following last week’s appointment of Dogar as acting chief justice of the IHC, a move that sparked reservations among some judges over seniority. It is alleged that the authorities transferred three judges, including justices Dogar, Soomro and Asif from Lahore, Sindh and Balochistan high courts, respectively, to the IHC to stop the appointment of any of the five judges as the chief justice.

The legal fraternity and opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf had opposed the move, with the PTI alleging that the transfers aimed to influence the cases of Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi.