LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Monday overruled a registrar office’s objection to a petition challenging the non-issuance of a notification for appointing Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, the most senior judge of the Supreme Court, as the next chief justice of Pakistan.

The office had raised an objection, saying the petition was not maintainable before the LHC. Dismissing the objection, Justice Faisal Zaman Khan directed the office to fix the petition for hearing.

Advocate Nadeem Shibli filed the petition, pleading that political, constitutional and legal issues were causing unrest in the country. He argued that under the Constitution, the most senior judge should be appointed as the CJ but the notification for Justice Shah’s appointment had not yet been issued.

The petitioner pointed out that usually, the notification for the new chief justice was issued two months before the sitting chief justice’s retirement. However, he said, with only one month remaining until Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa’s retirement, no notification had been issued.

He expressed concerns that the delay in issuing the notification for Justice Shah could be due to mala fide intent of the government, causing anxiety among the lawyers and the public.

He asked the court to order the issuance of the notification appointing the senior-most judge as the chief justice of Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, September 24th, 2024