1 week Ago By Shahid Rao
ISLAMABAD - A division bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) Friday halted the Deputy Registrar (Judicial) to transfer a case from single bench to division bench without any legal justification. The division becnh comprising Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani and Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan issued the directions saying that the Deputy Registrar (Jud.) shall not exercise the powers to transfer a case from the single bench to the division bench unless there is a commonality or joinder of the cause of action, or a question of interpretation of law, justifies such an order.
The judges noted, “The Deputy Registrar has no power to transfer any case from any Bench unless the Bench itself asks to do so after recusal or otherwise with reason in judicial order. Even otherwise, in case the Benches specifically constituted such as green Bench, Banking Judge to hear specific cases could not be changed nor the cases shall be transferred from the previous Bench to newly constituted Bench unless the Judge dealing with those cases allows to do so, after his recusal.” Extreme heatwave expected from Monday, warns PMD The bench mentioned that they have gone through Part-B of Chapter-3 Volume-V of the High Court Rules and Orders, which deals with the jurisdiction of a Single Bench and Benches of the Court.
This reflects the domain of the Division Bench in an explicit manner, including but not limited to Regular First Appeals from the decree of a subordinate Court, the jurisdictional value of which exceeds that of the District Court as prescribed by the Civil Courts Ordinance, 1962 and Sub-rule (ii) of rule 2 also applies where a sentence of death has been passed or in cases where a notice has been issued to a person sentenced to imprisonment or imprisonment for life, requiring him to show cause as to why the sentence should not be altered to death, or in any appeal as categorized in sub-clause C of Part-II of Section 417 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. It added that in this context, Rule-4A is the only exception, as it deals with the powers of the Chief Justice to refer any matter to a Division Bench of two Judges with the permission of the Single Bench, if he (the Single Bench) deems it appropriate to refer the matter. Therefore, if any matter is pending before the Single Bench, it cannot be transferred or referred to the Division Bench unless the Judge hearing the matter thinks fit to transfer.
Iran says giving diplomacy ‘genuine chance’ in Oman talks with US The bench directed that in case of any ambiguity, the Deputy Registrar (Judicial) shall seek guidance in terms of Chapter-10, Part-A of Volume-V of the High Court Rules and Orders, especially with reference to Rule 5, Sub-rule (i), (ii), and (iii) which cover all matters involving questions of principle and policy, all cases related to amendments to existing laws or statutory rules of the Court, and all matters concerning the High Court or its Judges. Therefore, it added that in future, these guidelines are required to be considered as a reference when transferring/ marking cases by the Deputy Registrar (Judicial) of this Court, unless the Full Court provides a view to further settle the High Court Rules and Orders to address such situations, which is the best and proper forum. The judges concluded that in the light of these observations, all these cases are transmitted to the Deputy Registrar (Judicial) to assign the cases keeping in view the guidelines settled hereinabove as well as while considering the mandate of the High Court Rules and Orders and following the recent order passed in W.
P. No. 937-2025.
They said that it is expected that all cases will be listed before the relevant Courts as early as possible, keeping in view the urgency of the matters. In the beginning of its written order, the division bench stated the instant case has been assigned to this Division Bench by the Acting Chief Justice on the basis of a note initiated by the office, pursuant to request made by one of the Benches of this Court, that Blasphemy cases as well as certain tax cases, should not be fixed before his lordship. Four men publicly executed in one day in Afghanistan It added that the note reflects that many blasphemy cases are pending before both Single Benches and Division Benches of this Court.
A list of blasphemy case was prepared by the office, and subsequently, the Acting Chief Justice transferred all these cases to Division Bench-II of this Court, for the reason that most of the blasphemy cases are pending before Division Bench-II. The judges said that they have gone through the entire note sheet, however, no such list has been incorporated therein, which confirms that any case relating to blasphemy is pending before this Division Bench. They added that even otherwise, there is no specific provision or reference in the order of the Acting Chief Justice with reference to the High Court Rules and Orders, which authorizes his lordship to transfer the cases pending before a Single Bench of this Court to a Division Bench.
They further said that in this regard, they have gone through Volume-V of the Rules and Orders of the Lahore High Court, particularly Chapter-3, which regulates the practice of the High Court in the hearing of cases and other matters and there is no 4 specific provision, which empowers the Chief Justice to assign or reassign cases or to withdraw cases from a Single Bench, either to another Single Bench or to a Division Bench. NA speaker regrets Opp MNAs’ conduct in House Tags: ihc halts transferring single.
