ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) administration has started working on a policy for rotation of judges of the subordinate judiciary to other provinces, a long-awaited demand of the capital’s legal fraternity that was accepted in principle by the National Judicial Policy Making Committee (NJPMC).
Informed sources said several proposals were being considered to determine the modalities for implementing the inter-provincial rotation of judges of Islamabad’s district judiciary.
One proposal under consideration is that judicial officers posted to other provinces should preferably be sent to the province from where they originally belong. The Islamabad judiciary comprises officers who joined the service through different modes, including initial appointments, absorption and deputation, and judicial officers from all four provinces are currently serving in the capital.
The sources said there were around 60 judicial officers in the Islamabad judiciary, and the authorities were considering whether all of them, 50pc of them or one-third should be rotated to other provinces.
Another issue under consideration is whether the rotation should cover all tiers of the subordinate judiciary — civil judges, senior civil judges, additional district and sessions judges and district and sessions judges — or be limited to certain categories.
“Whatever formula is adopted, one thing is clear: the equal number of judges sent from Islamabad will be brought in from the provinces to maintain the strength of the district judiciary,” a legal expert familiar with the proposed mechanism said.
The proposed policy follows a longstanding demand by Islamabad’s lawyers for giving the district judiciary of the federal capital the same opportunity for inter-provincial transfers and rotations available to judges in the provinces.
In May, the Islamabad High Court Bar Association formally demanded a uniform transfer and rotation policy for the district judiciary.
The NJPMC subsequently accepted the demand in principle and decided to introduce inter-provincial rotation of Islamabad’s subordinate judiciary. The move came after years of calls from the legal fraternity for greater institutional balance in the capital’s district courts.
The issue has gained further significance following the transfer of three IHC judges to the Lahore, Peshawar and Sindh high courts earlier this year. Bar bodies had subsequently called for a structured and periodic rotation mechanism for judges rather than selective transfers.
The concept of rotating Islamabad’s lower court judges is not new. In 2018, the federal government had proposed amendments to the Islamabad Judicial Service Rules to enable subordinate court judges to be sent on deputation to other provinces, while noting that the existing rules did not provide for such transfers.
The proposed mechanism has, however, also generated apprehensions among some judicial officers. Concerns have been expressed that frequent movement between Islamabad and other provinces could expose judges to new forms of professional pressure, including attempts by lawyers to influence judicial decisions or pressure judges considered “non-cooperative”.
The authorities are therefore faced with the task of devising a transparent and uniform mechanism that provides for inter-provincial exposure and rotation while safeguarding judicial independence and ensuring that the strength of Islamabad’s district judiciary remains intact.
The final policy is expected to settle the number and categories of judges to be rotated, the duration of their postings and the procedure for replacing them with judicial officers from other provinces.
Published in Dawn, September 23rd, 2026
