KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition filed against the appointment of the chief justice of Pakistan.

Some lawyers have petitioned the SHC and submitted that Justice Yahya Afridi had been appointed as the top judge of the country in October 2024 for a term of three years bypassing two senior most judges of the apex court.

A two-judge SHC bench comprising Justice Zafar Ahmed Rajput and Justice Arshad Hussain Khan dismissed the petition after a preliminary hearing.

Citing the ministry of law, justice & parliamentary affairs, Special Parliamentary Committee and CJP Afridi as respondents, petitioners Wajahat Ali and five other lawyers asked the SHC to declare the impugned appointment ultra vires to the Constitution.

Bench says no provision exists in constitutional scheme to provide ‘reasons’ for the selection of the country’s top judge

The petitioners stated that no reason was given by the Special Parliamentary Committee for bypassing senior most judges of the Supreme Court while nominating Justice Afridi as CJP.

Petitioners’ lawyer Ebrahim Saifuddin argued that previously, the presidents had always adhered to the constitutional convention of appointing the senior most judge as the CJP while after 18th Amendment to the Constitution this long-standing convention was entrenched vide Article 175A (3).

However, he maintained that after 26th Amendment, a 12-member Special Parliamentary Committee comprising eight MNAs and four senators was tasked with nominating the CJP among the three senior most judges of the apex court. The committee had picked Justice Afridi, who was at Serial No.3 on the seniority list superseding Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Munib Akhtar, the counsel added.

He argued that the committee did not establish any criteria for assessing, evaluating or determining the fitness of three senior most judges nor any valid reason was given for ignoring the two senior most judges.

The bench remarked that presently, there appeared to be no such provision in the constitutional scheme to provide reason in respect of the appointment of the CJP.

The petitioners submitted that in the past senior most judges were bypassed in the appointment of Justice Sajjad Ali Shah as the CJP, and the Supreme Court had declared the appointment unconstitutional.

Published in Dawn, January 22th, 2025