In a letter to Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah has publicly requested a response to six “pressing institutional concerns” regarding current judicial practices and policies.
Justice Shah stated in his letter that his correspondence was in his capacity as the most senior judge, and should not be mistaken for a personal grievance. He wrote: “As the senior-most judge of this Court after yourself, I write this letter with reluctance, but in discharge of an unavoidable institutional duty. What compels me to write is your persistent and complete indifference.”
The senior Supreme Court judge complained that he had previously sent multiple letters but received no response, either written or verbal. He urged the CJP to publicly answer his questions at the upcoming judicial conference on September 8, noting that a new judicial year would commence that day, and the forum would be used to review reforms and set priorities for the coming year.
The questions raised by Justice Mansoor include:
- Why has the PaPA Committee never been convened to carry out its statutory responsibilities? The PaPA (Practice and Procedure Act) Committee is mandated by the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023, to form benches for all matters and petitions outside the domain of the Constitutional Benches.
- Why was the historic revision of the 1980 Rules approved by circulation rather than through discussion and deliberation in a Full Court Meeting?
- Why was the policy on releasing dissenting opinions adopted by soliciting individual opinions from judges (a process unheard of) instead of through open deliberation in a Full Court Meeting?
- Why was a General Standing Order on leave issued that subjects judges to controls inconsistent with judicial independence and the 1997 Presidential Order?
- Why have the petitions challenging the 26th Amendment not been fixed before the original Full Court?
- Most fundamentally, are you nurturing independence among Judges, or enforcing compliance to turn this Court into a regimented force rather than a constitutional court of free and equal Judges?
