The Supreme Court (SC) registrar’s office has returned constitutional petitions filed by five judges of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), citing multiple procedural objections, according to court sources on Monday.
The petitions, which challenged the powers of IHC Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar, were filed under Article 184(3) of the Constitution.
Article 184(3) of the Constitution of Pakistan grants the Supreme Court original jurisdiction to hear matters of public importance concerning the enforcement of any of the fundamental rights guaranteed in Chapter I of Part II of the Constitution.
The registrar’s office raised several objections, noting that the judges failed to specify any matter of public importance or to identify which fundamental rights were affected to justify invoking the Supreme Court’s original jurisdiction.
Sources said the objections stated that the petitions appeared to be motivated by personal grievances rather than issues of public interest.
The office cited the Supreme Court’s precedent in Zulfiqar Mehdi vs PIA, which does not permit petitions based on personal disputes under Article 184(3).
The registrar further observed that the applications did not meet the essential requirements of Article 184(3), lacked a clear explanation for issuing notices to respondents and failed to provide solid reasons for filing constitutional petitions.
The five IHC judges had sought to challenge the administrative powers of Chief Justice Dogar through their petitions.
Earlier, five IHC judges went to the SC in person to file separate constitutional petitions, challenging several administrative steps taken by IHC Chief Justice Dogar.
The judges – Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Babar Sattar, Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, and Saman Rafat Imtiaz- filed the petitions under Article 184(3) of the Constitution, making eleven different prayers, including one seeking quashing of an IHC order barring Justice Jahangiri from judicial work.
On September 16, a division bench, comprising Chief Justice Dogar and Justice Muhammad Azam Khan stopped Justice Jahangiri from performing his duties as it took up a quo warranto petition accusing the judge of holding a dubious LLB degree – a move that deepened the chasm within judiciary.
Interestingly, the bench also sought assistance from Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Awan on the question of whether the petition was maintainable.