SC judge opposes president determining judges' seniority sans consulting CJP

Senior Supreme Court (SC) judge Justice Mansoor Ali Shah has written another letter to the secretary Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) in which he has objected to the determination of the seniority of Islamabad High Court (IHC) judges by President Asif Ali Zardari on his own, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Wednesday.

Sources told the 24News TV channel that the judge wrote the letter before the start of the JCP meeting on Monday. 

In the letter, he wrote that under Article 200 of the constitution, the president ought to have consulted the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Yahya Afridi before determining the seniority of the judges. “But the president did this in haste,” Justice Mansoor added.

He reminded that an intra-court appeal had also been filed in the case. 

On June 29, President Zardari, in line with a SC decision, had finalized the seniority order of the IHC judges.

According to the official notification, Justice Sarfraz Dogar was designated as the most senior judge of the IHC, followed by Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb.

The list placed Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri on the fourth position; Justice Babar Sattar on the fifth position; Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan on the sixth position, and Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir on the seventh position.

Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz and Justice Khadim Hussain M. Shaikh were on eighth and ninth positions on the list, respectively.

Reporter: Amanat Gishkori