Justice Afridi dons CJ's robes, gets down to business

The new Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP), Yahya Afridi, has surprised many by springing right into action, and taking some crucial decisions on his very first day in office. In an exercise of power under Section 2(1) of the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023, as amended by the ordinance No VIII of 2024, the CJP has reconstituted the requisite committee.

The committee will be chaired by the chief justice, and its members in-clude Justices Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Munib Akhtar. CJ Afridi has also called a full-court meeting on October 28 (Monday) at 1:00 PM. The top judge of the country has even called for a gathering of administrative judges of anti-terrorism courts, along with progress reports, on November 7, 2024 at the Supreme Court. Most importantly, the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) meeting has been summoned for November 8.

Earlier, President Asif Ali Zardari, on Saturday, administered the oath to Justice Yahya Afridi as the Chief Justice of Pakistan in a ceremony held at the Aiwan-e-Sadr.

The ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, services chiefs, National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Senate Chairman Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani, governors, chief ministers, Ministers, as well as judges of the Supreme Court, high courts, former chief justices, law officers, office bearers of the lawyers' bodies, lawyers, and media persons.

Although the agenda of the SJC meeting is yet to be decided, lawyers believe that CJ Afridi will ensure that interference in judicial functions by state agencies will not be allowed. It is worth noting that six Islamabad High Court judges had written a letter to the SJC, seeking guidance on the alleged interference of executive agencies in judicial functions when hearing high-profile cases.

Instead of dealing with the matter in the SJC, former CJP Qazi Faez Isa had expressed the desire to form an inquiry commission to probe the six IHC judges' allegations. Later, a suo motu proceeding was initiated on the IHC judges' letter, which is still pending. Justice Afridi had recused himself from sitting on the larger bench to hear the matter.

Chief Justice Afridi noted that the issue raised by the judges should be viewed according to the Supreme Judicial Council's code of conduct. "High courts are independent courts under the Constitution. Article 184/3 should not be invoked on the independence of high courts," he wrote.

Interestingly before taking oath, CJP Afridi held an informal interaction with top state functionaries at the Presidency. It is worth noting that sev-eral misconduct complaints are pending in the SJC against superior court judges, especially the IHC chief justice, chief election commission-er, and other members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). Justice Syed Mansoor Ali and Justice Munib Akhtar are members of the SJC.

IHC CJ Aamer Farooq and the Balochistan High Court Chief Justice are also members of the council.

Likewise, CJP Isa had issued a strong message by including Justice Shah and Justice Munib Akhtar in the committee formed under the Su-preme Court Practice and Procedure Act.

When a trial against PTI workers is are being delayed in terrorism cases, seeking progress of the ATC courts' progress is a significant develop-ment. A senior lawyer, who has known CJP Afridi for a long time, be-lieves he will unite the judiciary. "Judges will be protected, and there will be no interference in the high courts," he believes. The lawyer continues that the biggest challenge for CJP Afridi is to unite the SC which has been divided over the last five years.

He says a united court could stop executive influence in the judiciary's internal affairs. Currently, the superior judiciary is being pressurised by executive authorities through the 26th Constitutional Amendment. The biggest test for CJP Afridi are the proceedings of the Judicial Commis-sion of Pakistan (CJP) where the representation of the executive has in-creased. The JCP is the body that will nominate judges and form consti-tutional benches.

Now, the government is planning to increase the number of SC judges and its desire is form constitutional benches, led by likeminded judges.

At the same time, those from the legal fraternity assert that the CJP should be the presiding judge of constitutional benches.