ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday ruled in favour of the transfer of judges to the Islamabad High Couty (IHC) and dismissed the multiple pleas filed against it.

The verdict was announced by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, who was heading the five-member constitutional bench hearing petitions filed by five IHC judges, the Karachi Bar Association (KBA) and the IHC Bar Association, among others.

The bench also comprises Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan, Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan, Justice Salahuddin Panhwar and Justice Shakeel Ahmed.

In February, five judges of the IHC had moved the SC under Article 184(3) of the Constitution against the appointment of Justice Sarfraz Dogar as the acting chief justice of IHC as well as the transfer of high court judges. The plea was filed by Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani, Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Justice Babar Sattar, Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan and Justice Saman Riffat Imtiaz.

The IHC judges had urged the apex court to declare that the president does not have unfettered and unbridled discretion to transfer judges from one high court to another, under Article 200(1) of the Constitution, without a manifest public interest, and in a manner that hampers the principles of independence of judiciary and separation of powers.

Their petition also prayed the apex court to declare that in line with the settled law pronounced by the highest court in the case of Aslam Awan and Farrukh Irfan, the inter-se seniority of Respondents No 9-11 shall be determined from the date they take oath as justices of the IHC and would consequently be lower in the seniority list to the petitioners.

This is a developing story and is being updated with more details.