Authorities are considering several proposals to establish a mechanism for rotating judges of Islamabad’s district judiciary to other provinces.
Under one proposal, judicial officers transferred outside the capital would preferably be posted to the provinces they originally belong to. Islamabad’s district judiciary includes officers appointed through different channels, including direct recruitment, absorption and deputation, with judicial officers from all four provinces currently serving in the capital.
The Islamabad judiciary has around 60 judicial officers. Authorities are considering whether all judges, half of them or one-third should be rotated to other provinces.
Another proposal concerns the levels of the subordinate judiciary that would be covered. The rotation could include civil judges, senior civil judges, additional district and sessions judges, and district and sessions judges, or be restricted to selected categories.
Under the proposed mechanism, judges sent from Islamabad would be replaced by an equal number of judicial officers from the provinces to ensure that the strength of the capital’s district judiciary remains unchanged.
The proposed policy follows a longstanding demand from lawyers in Islamabad for district judges in the federal capital to have opportunities for inter-provincial transfers and rotations similar to those available to judicial officers in the provinces.
The demand for a uniform transfer and rotation mechanism was formally raised earlier this year. The proposal was subsequently accepted in principle, with plans to introduce inter-provincial rotation for Islamabad’s subordinate judiciary.
The issue has gained further attention following the transfer of three judges of the Islamabad High Court to high courts in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh earlier this year. Legal bodies subsequently called for a structured and periodic system of judicial rotation rather than selective transfers.
The idea of rotating judges serving in Islamabad’s lower courts is not new. In 2018, amendments to the Islamabad Judicial Service Rules were proposed to allow subordinate court judges to serve on deputation in other provinces, as the existing rules did not provide for such transfers.
However, some judicial officers have raised concerns about the proposed system. They fear that frequent transfers between Islamabad and other provinces could expose judges to different forms of professional pressure, including attempts to influence judicial decisions.
Authorities are therefore working to develop a transparent and uniform mechanism that allows inter-provincial exposure while protecting judicial independence and maintaining the required strength of Islamabad’s district judiciary.
The final policy is expected to determine 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.
