Islamabad High Court judges divided over Practice and Procedure Rules in full court meeting

The inside story of the Islamabad High Court’s full court meeting has come to light, revealing a split among the judges over the approval of the Practice and Procedure and Establishment Rules, reported 24NewsHD TV channel Wednesday. According to sources, the rules were approved by a narrow majority of six to five.

Chief Justice Sarfaraz Dogar, Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir, Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro, Justice Azam Khan, Justice Muhammad Asif, and Justice Inam Amin Minhas voted in favour of the approval. However, Justices Mohsin Akhtar, Tariq Jahangiri, Babar Sattar, Sardar Ijaz Ishaq Khan, and Saman Riffat Imtiaz opposed the decision.

Sources disclosed that two judges had earlier submitted a letter demanding amendments to the meeting’s agenda, specifically calling for the deferment of the approval of the rules. Their request was rejected by Chief Justice Sarfaraz Dogar, who also turned down calls from dissenting judges to postpone the matter.

Despite the divide on procedural rules, the meeting reached unanimous agreement on an agenda item concerning the powers of family court judges, sources added.

 Reporter: Ehtesham Kiyani