LHC's Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani hangs up robes

Lahore High Court’s Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani resigned on Wednesday, citing personal reasons, including health concerns following a recent surgery, and “reasons of conscience”.

His resignation comes days after he returned to the twin cities to preside over a single bench at the Rawalpindi registry following a reshuffle at the high court.

Justice Kayani hails from Islamabad.

He was transferred to the LHC in April this year and assigned to its principal seat in Lahore. Despite being a senior judge of the LHC, he was not assigned to any division bench.

Justice Kayani previously served as the senior puisne judge of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) and was expecting to be elevated to chief justice. However, the transfer of Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar from the LHC, along with two other judges from the Sindh and Balochistan high courts, prompted him to challenge the inter-high court transfers.

The Supreme Court’s constitutional bench upheld the transfers to the IHC, including that of Justice Dogar, who is now its chief justice. The decision, however, triggered a broader legal battle. Justice Kayani and other senior IHC judges approached the SC to challenge the administrative powers exercised by Chief Justice Dogar. They alleged that the office had been turned into a “monocracy” and that judges could be excluded from the roster at will.

Following his own transfer to the LHC, Justice Kayani lost his seniority and was placed 12th on the high court’s seniority list.

After he was transferred to the LHC’s Rawalpindi registry, the new duty roster assigned him only to a single bench despite his previous position as the IHC’s senior puisne judge and his pending challenge to the inter-high court transfers.

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