IHC bars deputy registrar from transferring cases without legal justification
Pakistan
The deputy registrar judicial has the authority to fix cases before single or division benches
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – The Islamabad High Court has barred the deputy registrar judicial from transferring cases from a single bench to a division bench without valid legal justification.
Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani and Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq have issued a 12-page verdict, instructing the official to continue following existing judicial guidelines until the full court provides further input on the High Court Rules.
The two-member bench also ordered that cases previously assigned to division benches on the instructions of the acting chief justice must be reallocated to different benches.
It ruled that the deputy registrar must forward all cases to the relevant bench and should not exercise the authority to move cases from a single bench to a division bench without a legal basis.
Such transfers should only occur if there are legal grounds, such as the need for interpretation of law or similarity of cases.
The court also laid out future guidelines regarding the authority of marking and fixing cases.
According to the High Court Rules, the deputy registrar judicial has the authority to fix cases before single or division benches. Furthermore, the official does not have the authority to withdraw a case or reassign it to a different bench.
The court's order also cited a reference of the Asif Ali Zardari case, stating that it had already been decided that a judge himself must determine whether or not to hear a case.
In the current matter, no judge recused themselves, and there was no question of bias. The court also noted that the deputy registrar failed to adequately assist the acting chief justice on the administrative side.
