Peshawar:
An petitioner has approached the provincial Supreme Court of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) against the appointment of Justice Yahya Afridi as Chief Justice of Pakistan as well as some other “junior judges” to the Supreme Court considering seniority.
Mufti Noor UL Basar has filed a written petition in Peshawar High Court (PHC), naming the federal government, the President, Prime Minister, Chief Justice of Pakistan, Senate’s chairman, the parliamentary committee, the legal commission in Pakistan (JCP) Respondents.
The petition requests cancellation of forced orders dated 10 February 2025, 23 October 2024 and October 26, 2024 adopted by the respondents “illegal, illegal, imaginative, perverse, without any legal effect, invalid-abitio against fair play, reasonableness, Justification and transparency ”.
On February 10, 2025, JCP Greenlit, the increase of six permanent judges to the Supreme Court in a meeting that was booted 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 Chief Justice of Pakistan. Justice Afridi spent her oath in the office on October 26, 2024.
The petition notes that Justice Afridi is a junior for the two current judges in the Supreme Court, “who is also injustice with the judges in court”. The petition claims that it is illegal, constitutionally and against giving preference for junior judges rather than seniors, unconstitutional and against the decisions of the Supreme Court.
“The nation wants the reasons to replace senior judges, which are their basic right, as is enshrined in Articles 9 and 10-A in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan 1973,” it said.
In addition, the appointment of junior judges instead of senior to the Supreme Court violates the true spirit of an independent judiciary, which is responsible for protecting fundamental rights.
According to the written petition, the appointment of junior judges is violating instead of seniors Article 2a, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10a, 175 and 227 of the Constitution.
