In response to Supreme Court judge Justice Mansoor Ali Shah’s letter on the 26th Constitutional Amendment, Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi opposed on Friday the formation of a full court and the majority of the Judicial Commission members supported his stance.

Sources said that CJP Afridi provided his response to Justice Shah’s letter during a commission meeting.

Earlier, the JCP, chaired by Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi, convened to review the nominations of judges in the high courts and the inclusion of additional judges in the constitutional benches of the Supreme Court and Sindh High Court.

The discussion also touched on scheduling the hearing of the 26 Constitutional Amendment petitions before a full court where Justice Shah had advocated for hearing the petitions against the constitutional amendment through a full court.

Sources added that CJP Afridi opposed Justice Shah’s proposal regarding the scheduling of petitions against the 26th Constitutional Amendment. He stated that the constitutional committee would determine who would fix the cases and how they would be handled.

The majority of members supported CJP’s viewpoint.

Justice Shah mentioned that he referred to the scheduling of the 26th Constitutional Amendment hearings in his letter. In response, the top judge stated that the JCP does not have the authority to discuss the said law.

He further clarified that the authority to schedule constitutional cases following the amendment rests with the constitutional bench committee. Sources added that one commission member emphasized the importance of establishing rules for this matter.

The majority of JCP members opined that the matter of creating rules for the appointment of judges should be decided by a subcommittee. The commission has also granted the CJP the authority to establish this subcommittee for rule-making.

It is noteworthy that two letters emerged on Thursday regarding Justice Shah’s request to postpone the commission meeting. One letter was addressed to CJP Afridi while the other was sent to the commission.

In the letter addressed to the Chief Justice, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah suggested that the Judicial Commission meeting be postponed until decisions are made on the petitions against the 26th Constitutional Amendment.

He said that the JCP had been reconstituted under the amendment and that more than two dozen petitions against the amendment are pending.

Justice Shah emphasised in his letter that petitions against the 26th Constitutional Amendment could either be accepted or rejected. He warned that if the petitions were approved, the decisions of the JCP would lose their significance, potentially causing embarrassment for the institution and its members.

In his letter, he recommended postponing the meeting until decisions are made on the petitions against the amendment. He also advised CJP Afridi to form a full court to hear such petitions.

Justice Shah suggested that the CJP direct the SC registrar to schedule the petitions for hearing.