Justice Sarfraz Dogar Sworn in as Chief Justice of Islamabad High Court

Justice Sardar Sarfraz Dogar has taken oath as Chief Justice of the Islamabad High Court in a ceremony held at the Aiwan-e-Sadr (Presidential Palace) in Islamabad. President Asif Ali Zardari administered the oath to the newly appointed Chief Justice in the presence of senior lawyers, Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, Senate Chairman Yousuf Raza Gilani, and Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz.

Earlier, the Chief Justices of the Sindh and Peshawar High Courts also took oath of office. Justice Muhammad Junaid Ghaffar, Chief Justice of the Sindh High Court, and Justice S.M. Atiq Shah, Chief Justice of the Peshawar High Court, were administered the oath by the Governors of Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa respectively.

On July 1st, the Judicial Commission approved the appointments of Justice Sarfraz Dogar as Chief Justice of Islamabad High Court, Justice Junaid Ghaffar as Chief Justice of Sindh High Court, Justice Atiq Shah as Chief Justice of Peshawar High Court, and Justice Rozi Khan as Chief Justice of Balochistan High Court during a meeting chaired by Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi.

President Asif Ali Zardari had officially declared Justice Sarfraz Dogar as the senior most judge of the Islamabad High Court and made permanent the transfer of Justice Sarfraz Dogar along with two other judges on June 29 following a directive from the Supreme Court. The updated seniority list of IHC judges ranks Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani second and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb third.

Five judges of the IHC had filed an intra-court appeal against the Supreme Court's verdict upholding the transfer of three judges to the IHC, which was dismissed on June 19.