Lahore Bar Association moves SC against 27th Amendment following transfer of IHC judges

ISLAMABAD: A day after the government notified the transfer of three Islamabad High Court (IHC) judges to other high courts, the Lahore Bar Association (LBA) moved the Supreme Court on Thursday to challenge the constitutionality of the 27th Constitutional Amendment under which these transfers were made. On Tuesday, the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) approved the transfer of three judges from the IHC to other courts in a move that drew sharp criticism from lawyers’ bodies for lacking transparency and uniform criteria. Senior counsel Hamid Khan approached the SC, instead of the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC), on behalf of LBA President Irfan Hayat Bajwa, seeking a declaration that the recent transfer of three judges from the IHC to other high courts is unconstitutional and of no legal effect. The bar association also requested the SC to declare the omission and repeal of Article 184(3) of the Constitution — an inherent jurisdiction of the SC for the enforcement of fundamental rights but now repealed — through the 27th Amendment as void, unconstitutional and of no effect, being against the basic/salient features of the Constitution. The petition has also sought a declaration that the now-inserted Article 175(2) — as amended by the 27th Amendment — was void and unconstitutional, and that its formation was also unconstitutional, as it was against the constitutional fundamentals, which the parliament had no power to change or amend. In the absence of any substantive and disclosed reasons, criteria, or demonstrable institutional necessity, the transfers of IHC judges are unlawful and liable to be declared arbitrary, mala fide in law, and based on extraneous considerations, the petition pleaded. Similarly, it stated that the transfers had been made without any disclosed reasons, criteria, or demonstrable public interest, thereby rendering the exercise of power arbitrary, opaque, and liable to be set aside. The Constitution does not contemplate an unstructured or