ISLAMABAD: All eyes are on the Supreme Court that is set to hold its full court meeting today (Monday), convened by the new Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Yahya Afridi, shortly before he assumed charge earlier on Saturday.
The agenda of the meeting remained unclear till the filing of this report Sunday night. Some sources; however, suggest that the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) (Amendment) Ordinance 2024, issued by the federal government last month, may be reviewed in the full court meeting.
On 19 September, President Asif Zardari promulgated the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) (Amendment) Ordinance 2024 which mainly provides that every cause, appeal or matter before the SC shall be heard and disposed of by a bench constituted by the committee comprising the chief justice of Pakistan, the next most senior judge of the SC and an SC judge nominated by the CJP.
Justice Yahya Afridi takes oath as Pakistan’s 30th CJP
Soon after this ordinance was promulgated, the recently retired CJP Qazi Faez Isa reconstituted the judges’ committee— removing Justice Munib Akhtar from the panel and including Justice Amin-Ud-Din Khan in it. The federal government was all set to lay the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) (Amendment) Ordinance 2024 in the Senate on Friday before the session was adjourned abruptly, till today, due to the lack of quorum.
An ordinance, in the light of Article 89(1) of the Constitution, remains in effect for 120 days and can be extended only once for a further 120 days, if a resolution for its extension is passed by either Senate or National Assembly, and stands permanently lapsed after the passage of the extended period. Apart from Senate, the NA session is also scheduled today.
Soon after taking oath, the new CJP took at least six key decisions; convening the full court meeting, reconstituting the judges committee; bringing Justice Munib Akhtar back in the panel by removing Justice Amin-Ud-Din Khan, issuing the updated seniority list of the SC judges— placing Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Munib Akhtar respectively on second and third positions, convening a meeting of the administrative judges of the anti-terrorism courts to review their performances, convening Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) meeting, and ordering the streaming of SC proceedings from all the SC courtrooms.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024