IHC working on policy to rotate judges to other provinces

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) administration has started working on a policy for rotation of judges of the subordinate judiciary to other provinces, a long-awaited demand of the capital’s legal fraternity that was accepted in principle by the National Judicial Policy Making Committee (NJPMC). Informed sources said several proposals were being considered to determine the modalities for implementing the inter-provincial rotation of judges of Islamabad’s district judiciary. One proposal under consideration is that judicial officers posted to other provinces should preferably be sent to the province from where they originally belong. The Islamabad judiciary comprises officers who joined the service through different modes, including initial appointments, absorption and deputation, and judicial officers from all four provinces are currently serving in the capital.

The sources said there were around 60 judicial officers in the Islamabad judiciary, and the authorities were considering whether all of them, 50pc of them or one-third should be rotated to other provinces. Another issue under consideration is whether the rotation should cover all tiers of the subordinate judiciary — civil judges, senior civil judges, additional district and sessions judges and district and sessions judges — or be limited to certain categories. “Whatever formula is adopted, one thing is clear: the equal number of judges sent from Islamabad will be brought in from the provinces to maintain the strength of the district judiciary,” a legal expert familiar with the proposed mechanism said. The proposed policy follows a longstanding demand by Islamabad’s lawyers for giving the district judiciary of the federal capital the same opportunity for inter-provincial transfers and rotations…