ISLAMABAD (Staff Reporter) – Newly appointed Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Yahya Afridi has reconstituted the Practice and Procedure Committee including Justice Munib Akhtar in it.
The Supreme Court Registrar issued the notification in this regard.
The three judges committee including CJP Yahya Afridi, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Munib Akhtar would constitute benches to hear different cases.
According to a notification, the chief justice will head the special bench formed by the judges committee under the SC (Practice and Procedure Act), 2023. He also included senior puisne judge Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Akhtar to the judges’ committee.
On September 20, President Asif Ali Zardari approved the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Amendment Ordinance 2024, allowing the CJP to pick any judge of the apex court to be the third member of the body.
Soon after the president’s approval, then-CJP Isa exercised his powers under amended law and appointed Justice Amin-Ud-Din Khan to the judges’ committee, replacing Justice Akhtar.
The ordinance, promulgated in September this year, empowers the chief justice to nominate a judge of his choice in the committee that constitutes the benches. As per the ordinance, the body will comprise the chief justice, the senior puisne and any judge nominated by the CJP.
Following Justice Akhtar’s removal, Justice Shah wrote a letter to the secretary of the Supreme Court, expressing concerns over the ordinance.
Justice Mansoor, in his letter, noted that no reasons were given as to why the second senior most judge, Justice Akhtar, was removed from the composition of the committee. “Furthermore, no reasons were given why the next senior most judge was ignored and instead, the fourth senior most judge was nominated as a member of the Committee.”
“Such unfortunate cherry picking and undemocratic display of one-man show are precisely what the Act tried to discourage and replace-a stance that was upheld by the Full Court Bench of this Court in Raja Amer,” he wrote.
Justice Shah had also refused to become a member of special bench, stating he was unable to participate in the bench over his concerns regarding amendments to the practice law via ordinance.
In his October 23 letter, the senior judge also made his participation in the special bench conditional, saying that “until the full court bench determined the constitutional validity of the promulgation of the ordinance as well as of the amendments made thereby or the judges of the SC resolve to act upon these amendments in a full court meeting pending adjudication upon the constitutionality thereof, or the earlier committee comprising the HCJP and two senior most judges is restored, I will not participate in special benches formed by the new committee and will only attend sittings of the regular benches to hear the cases of ordinary litigants in the larger public interest.”
Responding to Justice Shah’s letter, then-CJP Isa had said legally he could not be asked about why he nominated a judge as the committee’s third member. Still, the then chief justice had provided the reasons for his action, saying he did it because he “always advocated accountability and transparency”.
Moreover, the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) was also reconstituted with CJP Afridi becoming the chairman. Earlier, the newly-appointed top judge was not part of the SJC.
The council also includes Justice Mansoor, Justice Akhtar and chief justices of the high courts.
Earlier, former CJP Qazi Faez Isa expelled Justice Munib Akhtar from judges’ committee and replaced him with Justice Aminuddin.
It was said that Justice Aminuddin Khan stood in the fifth position on the seniority list.
The reshuffle came in the wake of the Practice and Procedure Ordinance 2024, which was signed into law by President Asif Ali Zardari.
The Act provided that the chief justice of Pakistan will constitute a three-member committee “comprising the Chief Justice of Pakistan and two next most senior Judges, in order of seniority” to hear “every cause, appeal or matter before the Supreme Court.”
Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) Chief Justice Yahya Afridi has called a Supreme Judicial Council meeting, which is set to take place on November 8.
According to details, the CJP had also summoned a separate meeting for judges of the Anti-Terrorism Courts (ATC) to discuss ongoing case proceedings and updates, scheduled for November 7.
Additionally, as per the recently enacted Practice and Procedure Act, the Supreme Court Registrar’s office has released the upcoming weekly roster.
The schedule, effective from October 28 to November 1, lists eight benches that will hear cases over the week. The composition of the benches is as follows:
Bench 1
Chief Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Shahid Bilal
Bench 2
Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Athar Minallah
Bench 3
Justice Aminuddin Khan and Justice Irfan Saadat Khan
Bench 4
Justice Jamal Mandokhail, Justice Musarrat Hilali, and Justice Malik Shehzad
Bench 5
Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi
Bench 6
Justice Ayesha Malik and Justice Aqeel Abbasi
Bench 7
Justice Shahid Waheed and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan
Bench 8
Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel
A similar roster covering the week from November 4 to November 8 has also been published, with minor adjustments in bench compositions.
This scheduling is part of ongoing efforts to streamline case hearings and ensure judicial efficiency in line with recent reforms under the Practice and Procedure Act.
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