The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) on Monday threw out the appeals of five Islamabad High Court (IHC) judges challenging a Supreme Court verdict after none of the petitioners appeared for the hearing, bringing a dramatic end to a high-profile judicial dispute.
A six-member FCC bench, presided over by Chief Justice Aminuddin Khan, dismissed the pleas on grounds of non-compliance, thereby upholding the Supreme Court’s June decision which had validated the transfer of three judges to the IHC.
The intra-court appeals were initiated by Justices Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani, Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Babar Sattar, Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, and Saman Riffat Imtiaz. They contested the transfer of their case from the Supreme Court to the newly formed FCC, arguing the move was unlawful.
The petitioning judges maintained that their appeal was originally filed under the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023, and not the constitutional articles that grant the FCC its jurisdiction. They contended that the 27th Constitutional Amendment, which established the FCC, did not apply to their specific case.
At the heart of the matter is the relocation of Justice Sarfraz Dogar from the Lahore High Court, Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro from the Sindh High Court, and Justice Muhammad Asif from the Balochistan High Court to Islamabad-a move the nation’s apex court had already affirmed as constitutional.
The IHC justices, along with several bar associations, had requested that the FCC return the matter to the Supreme Court, its original forum, asserting the transfer to the new court “lacks lawful authority.” Their plea also raised fundamental questions about the constitutionality of the 27th Amendment itself.
The FCC panel, which also included Justices Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi, K.K. Agha, Aamer Farooq, Ali Baqir Najafi, Rozi Khan Barrech, and Arshad Hussain Shah, rejected the request due to the absence of the appellants.
Previously, challenges from legal bodies such as the Karachi Bar Association and the Islamabad High Court Bar Association had also been dismissed by the Supreme Court. With this final decision from the FCC, the Supreme Court’s original ruling affirming the contentious judicial transfers now stands uncontested.