In a notification issued last night, the Law Ministry dismissed Chowdhury, Rana Bhagwandas and Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday, all of whom refused to take oath under the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) promulgated by President Pervez Musharraf, a report in the Daily Times said.

Justice Bhagwandas and Justice Ramday were sacked without retirement privileges.

In another notification, the Ministry retired 24 high court judges with effect from November 3 – the day emergency was imposed.

Twelve judges of the Sindh High Court, including Justices Ahmed Jaffery, Khilji Hussain, Amir Muslim, Gulzar Ahmed, Maqbool Baqar, Athar Saeed and Arshad Siraj -- stand retired.

Among the ten judges of the Lahore High Court who have been retired are Khawaja Sharif, Saqib Nisar, Asif Khosa, Tahir Ali, Ijaz Chaudhry and Shahid Siddiqui.