A petitioner has approached the provincial high court of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) against appointment of Justice Yahya Afridi as the chief justice of Pakistan as well as some other "junior judges" to the Supreme Court in disregard of seniority.
Mufti Noor Ul Basar has filed a writ petition in the Peshawar High Court (PHC), naming the federal government, the president, the prime minister, the chief justice of Pakistan, the Senate chairman, the parliamentary committee, the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) among others, as respondents.
The petition requests the annulment of impugned orders dated February 10, 2025, October 23, 2024 and October 26, 2024 passed by the respondents "illegal, unlawful, fanciful, perverse, of no legal effect, void-ab-initio against the fair play, reasonableness, rationale and transparency".
On February 10, 2025, the JCP greenlit the elevation of six permanent judges to the Supreme Court in a meeting boycotted by two opposition JCP members as well as two senior SC judges.
On October 23, 2024, the JCP approved the nomination of Justice Yahya Afridi as the chief justice of Pakistan. Justice Afridi took his oath of office on October 26, 2024.
The petition notes that Justice Afridi is junior to the two incumbent judges of the Supreme Court "which is also injustice with the justices in the court of justice". The petition argues that giving preference to junior judges over senior ones is illegal, unconstitutional, and against the rulings of the Supreme Court.
"The nation wants the reasons for superseding of senior judges which is their fundamental right as is enshrined in articles 9 and 10-A of the Constitution of the Islamic republic of Pakistan 1973," it said.
Furthermore, appointing junior judges instead of senior ones to the Supreme Court violates the true spirit of an independent judiciary, which is responsible for safeguarding fundamental rights.
According to the writ petition, the appointment of junior judges instead of senior ones violates Articles 2A, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10A, 175, and 227 of the Constitution.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ