Senior Judges Call for Full Court to Hear Petitions Against 26th Constitutional Amendment, Chief Justice Refuses

Islamabad: Three senior-most judges of the Supreme Court have become embroiled in a dispute over the scheduling of hearings for petitions challenging the 26th Constitutional Amendment.
It has come to light that two of the senior-most judges, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Munib Akhtar, wrote a letter to Chief Justice Yahya Afridi on October 31, requesting an immediate meeting of the committee formed under the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023. Despite this, the Chief Justice did not convene the meeting. As a result, Justice Mansoor and Justice Munib held a meeting in Justice Munib Akhtar’s chambers and decided by majority that the petitions challenging the 26th Amendment should be heard by a full court on November 4, 2024.
However, no official cause list was issued for the scheduled hearing, leaving the matter unresolved.
In response, the two judges sent another letter to Chief Justice Afridi on November 4, expressing disappointment over the failure to list the petitions for hearing. The letter highlighted that, as per the provisions of Section 2(2) of the Act, they had requested a committee meeting on October 31 to discuss and schedule the petitions. Following the meeting, they decided that the petitions should be placed before a full court, with the hearing set for November 4.
Despite their decision, no cause list had been issued for the hearing, leading to concern among the committee members. The judges reiterated their position in the letter, stating that the decision to place the petitions before the full court remains effective, and immediate action should be taken to issue the cause list.
The letter also instructed the Registrar to upload the committee’s October 31 decision on the Supreme Court’s official website for public record.