ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi reconstituted the judges committee under Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023, for fixing cases and forming benches.
Justice Yahya Afridi took oath as the 30th chief justice of Pakistan. The oath-taking ceremony was held at the Aiwan-e-Sadr (President’s House), where President Asif Ali Zardari administered the oath to Justice Yahya Afridi as chief justice of Pakistan.
The new chief justice on his first day passed an administrative order, reconstituting the judges three-member committee and bringing back Justice Munib Akhtar in it.
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The office order issued by SC Registrar on Saturday says; “In exercise of powers under Section 2(1) of Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023 as amended by the Ordinance 2024 the Chief Justice of Pakistan has been please to reconstitute Committee comprising; Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi, senior puisne judge Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Munib Akhtar.”
After the enactment of Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Amendment Ordinance, 2024, the former Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa nominated Justice Aminuddin Khan, who was at that time at No 4 in seniority list of the Supreme Court judges, as the third member of the Committee.
Justice Mansoor, on September 23, in his letter to SC Registrar/Secretary of the Committee, objected to amending the Practice and Procedure Act, its timing and why within hours of the promulgation of the ordinance, the reconstituted committee was notified, and no reasons were given as to why the second senior most judge, Justice Munib Akhtar, was removed from the composition of the Committee. He further questioned why the next senior most judge (Justice Yahya Afridi) was ignored and instead, the fourth senior most judge was nominated as a member of the Committee.
Former CJP Faez in reply to Justice Mansoor’s letter had delineated 11 reasons for replacing Justice Munib Akhtar in the reconstituted judges committee. He had also explained the reasons for not including Justice Yahya in the committee.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024