By Asif Naveed
ISLAMABAD; The Supreme Court registrar has returned the constitutional petitions filed by five judges of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) after raising multiple objections. Sources revealed that the petitions, submitted under Article 184(3) of the Constitution, did not meet the legal requirements necessary to invoke the apex court’s extraordinary jurisdiction.
According to the objections, the petitioners failed to clarify what question of public importance had been raised, nor did they explain which fundamental rights had been violated to justify the use of Article 184(3). It was further noted that the judges did not provide sufficient reasons for filing the petitions or specify the parties to whom notices should be issued.
Sources added that the petitions appeared to stem from personal grievances. They pointed out that in the landmark Zulfiqar Mehdi case, the Supreme Court had clearly ruled that Article 184(3) could not be used to pursue matters based on personal enmity or disputes.
Earlier, five IHC judges had approached the Supreme Court challenging the administrative and judicial powers exercised by Chief Justice Sarfraz Dogar.
Their petitions were seen as an extension of internal tensions within the high court regarding the distribution of powers and administrative authority. With the registrar’s office now returning the petitions, the development has sparked renewed legal debate over the limits of judicial accountability and the proper scope of Article 184(3).
