ISLAMABAD: The re-established Islamabad High Court (IHC) will start partial functioning today (Monday) by beginning admitting cases, a senior official of the Law Ministry told Pakistan Today on Sunday.
He said the IHC staff was already working since the last two months, whereas over 1,600 cases had also been shifted from Islamabad district courts to the IHC.
The official said the transfer of over 5,000 cases from the Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi Bench to the IHC continued.
“Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Dr Babar Awan, who inaugurated the IHC on November 15, is expected to visit the court today (Monday) to examine final arrangements,” the source said.
Although, Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman, a judge of the LHC and a son of former Supreme Court chief justice Hamoodur Rehman, was recommended as the IHC chief justice by the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) for judges’ appointment, his appointment is yet to be approved by the eight-member Parliamentary Committee, which is scheduled to meet on December 15.
Justice Rehman was one of the judges who declined to take oath under the Provisional Constitution Order promulgated by former president Pervez Musharraf on November 3, 2007.Although there was no official word about the JCP’s December 5 meeting, but informed sources said the JCP had also nominated Tariq Anwar Kansi, a district and sessions judge in Quetta, and Riaz Ahmed Khan, an advocate of the Peshawar High Court, as judges of the IHC.
The JCP meeting was attended by former LHC chief justice Khawaja Sharif, Sindh High Court Chief Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany, Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, Balochistan High Court Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, Law Minister Babar Awan and Pakistan Bar Council representative Khalid Ranjha.
The nomination of the judges will now be discussed by an eight-member Parliamentary Committee at its next meeting scheduled for December 15.
