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Justice Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar and the three acting chief justices of the high courts took their oaths on Tuesday as the regular top judges.<\/p>\n
The oath-taking ceremonies were held a day after President Asif Ali Zardari appointed<\/a> them, based on the nominations by the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP).<\/p>\n President Zardari administered the oath of office to Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Sarfraz Dogar, who has been serving in an acting capacity since February, during a ceremony held at Aiwan-i-Sadr in Islamabad.<\/p>\n The ceremony was attended by IHC judges, Senate Chairman Yousuf Raza Gilani, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, ministers, parliamentarians and the legal fraternity, the Associated Press of Pakistan<\/em> reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n The development comes less than a month after the Supreme Court\u2019s Constitutional Bench, by a majority of 3-2, upheld<\/a> the constitutionality of transferring three judges<\/a> from other provincial high courts to the IHC and referred the matter of seniority determination to the president.<\/p>\n The matter of Justice Dogar and two other judges\u2019 transfer to the IHC in February had sparked a controversy<\/a> as he was made the senior puisne judge<\/a>, paving the way for his appointment<\/a> as the acting IHC chief justice after Justice Aamer Farooq\u2019s elevation<\/a> to the SC.<\/p>\n Five IHC judges<\/a>, who were petitioners<\/a> in the SC case, and four former presidents<\/a> of the Islamabad High Court Bar Association have challenged the apex court\u2019s ruling.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the high courts in Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan also saw their chief justices taking oaths as regular top judges.<\/p>\n In separate ceremonies, Justice Syed Muhammad Attique Shah took oath as the Peshawar High Court (PHC) chief justice, Justice Rozi Khan Barrech was sworn in as Balochistan High Court\u2019s (BHC) top judge, and Justice Junaid Ghaffar took the helm of the Sindh High Court (SHC).<\/p>\n Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori administered the oath to Justice Ghaffar at a ceremony held at the Governor House in Karachi.<\/p>\n Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, fellow SHC judges and members of the Karachi Bar Association and SHC Bar Association were present on the occasion as well.<\/p>\nOath-takings in Sindh, KP, Balochistan<\/h2>\n