ISLAMABAD: Justice Mansoor Ali Shah of the Supreme Court docket has refused to develop into a member of particular bench shaped by the judges committee established underneath the SC (Apply and Process Act), 2023, for the aim of assigning instances.
In a letter to Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, the senior puisne decide said he was unable to take part within the bench for a similar causes that he talked about in his letter to the committee secretary dated September 23.
Within the earlier letter, the senior puisne decide had expressed considerations over the Supreme Court docket (Apply and Process Act), 2023, that offers with the affairs of the highest courtroom together with the formation of benches.
The ordinance, promulgated in September this yr, empowers the chief justice to appoint a decide of his alternative within the committee that constitutes the benches. As per the ordinance, the physique will comprise the chief justice, essentially the most senior decide after the CJP and the decide nominated by Justice Isa.
Justice Shah had expressed reservations over the “cherry-picking” and removing of Justice Munib Akhtar from the mentioned committee. He had mentioned inside hours of the promulgation of the ordinance, the judges committee was reconstituted and Justice Munib was faraway from the composition of the committee.
This, he had mentioned few days after CJP Isa had appointed Justice Amin-Ud-Din Khan to the three-member judges’ committee, excluding Justice Munib hours after the promulgation of the brand new follow legislation.
Justice Shah, in his letter, had famous that no causes got as to why the second senior most decide, Justice Akhtar, was faraway from the composition of the committee. “Moreover, no causes got why the subsequent senior most decide was ignored and as an alternative, the fourth senior most decide was nominated as a member of the Committee.”
“Such unlucky cherry selecting and undemocratic show of one-man present are exactly what the Act tried to discourage and replace-a stance that was upheld by the Full Court docket Bench of this Court docket in Raja Amer,” he had written.
In response to Justice Mansoor’s letter, CJ Isa on September 26 gave 11 causes to justify his motion.
In his letter, the CJP had mentioned legally he couldn’t be requested about why he nominated a decide because the committee’s third member. Nonetheless, the chief justice had offered the explanations for his motion, saying he did it as a result of he “at all times advocated accountability and transparency”.
In his October 23 letter, the senior decide made his participation within the particular bench conditional, saying that “till the total courtroom bench decided the constitutional validity of the promulgation of the ordinance in addition to of the amendments made thereby or the judges of the SC resolve to behave upon these amendments in a full courtroom assembly pending adjudication upon the constitutionality thereof, or the sooner committee comprising the HCJP and two senior most judges is restored, I can’t take part in particular benches shaped by the brand new committee and can solely attend sittings of the common benches to listen to the instances of extraordinary litigants within the bigger public curiosity.”
For these causes, he mentioned, he disassociated himself from the bench constituted on this matter.
On this event, he mentioned, he was reminded of a quote from ‘A Man for all Seasons’, the place Sir Thomas Extra mentioned: “I believe that when statesmen forsake their very own personal conscience for the sake of their public duties, they lead their nation by a brief path to chaos.”
He added: “When in energy, we frequently neglect that individuals of this nation are watching our actions, and that historical past by no means forgives.”