Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani moves to LHC Rawalpindi bench from 2 November in roster reshuffle

Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani has been placed at the Lahore High Court's Rawalpindi registry, where he will preside over a single bench under the court's new duty roster for November and December 2026. The roster runs from 2 November to 24 December, Dawn reported on Tuesday.

The move brings him back to the twin cities. Since his transfer to the LHC in April 2026 he had sat at the principal seat in Lahore and was not placed on any division bench there.

Who sits in Rawalpindi from 2 November

The LHC roster sets three division benches and six single benches at the Rawalpindi registry:

For litigants and lawyers whose cases are heard at the Rawalpindi registry, the roster decides which judge takes their matter over the next eight weeks.

How he got here

Justice Kayani was the Islamabad High Court's senior puisne judge and was widely expected to become its chief justice. That changed when Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar was transferred from the LHC to the IHC, together with two judges from the Sindh and Balochistan high courts, and later became the IHC's chief justice.

Justice Kayani challenged those inter-high court transfers. The Supreme Court's constitutional bench upheld them. He and other senior IHC judges then questioned the chief justice's administrative powers over the roster, according to Dawn. After his own move to the LHC he lost his seniority and now stands 12th on the LHC's seniority list.

What happens next

The new roster takes effect on Monday 2 November and runs until 24 December, after which the LHC will issue its next roster.

If you have a case before the high court and need to work out court fees or stamp duty on a property matter, our stamp duty calculator and the Rawalpindi lawyers and legal services listings may help.