The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) on Tuesday appointed the chief justices of the four high courts, according to a statement issued by the Supreme Court.
The JCP, read the statement, held four consecutive meetings to decide on the appointments. A majority of its total membership in each meeting, it said, opted to allow the acting chief justices to continue serving in the top roles. It said letters had been issued to the prime minister’s principal secretary informing the government about the nominations and requesting the forwarding of the same to the president for their formal appointment.
According to the letters, Justice Sarfraz Dogar was nominated as the new chief justice of the Islamabad High Court (IHC); Justice Rozi Khan Barrech as the chief justice for the Balochistan High Court (BHC); Justice Syed Muhammad Attique Shah as CJ of the Peshawar High Court (PHC); and Justice Junaid Ghaffar as CJ of the Sindh High Court (SHC).
The announcement followed President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday issuing a seniority list of the IHC. In that list, issued on directions of the Supreme Court, the president declared Justice Dogar the “senior-most judge” of the IHC. The matter remains pending with the apex court, as five IHC judges have challenged the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the transfer of three judges to the IHC.
In his notification, President Zardari also declared that the status of the transfer of all three judges would be permanent.