ISLAMABAD: Responding to Chief Justice Mansoor Ali Shah’s letter raising questions over the removal of Justice Munib Akhtar from the Judicial Committee, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa on Thursday gave 11 reasons to justify his action. On September 20, CJP Isa appointed Justice Amin-Ud-Din Khan to the three-judge bench excluding Justice Munib Akhtar hours after the new Supreme Court Amendment (Practice and Procedure) Order 2024 was announced. The decree empowers the Chief Justice to appoint judges to the committee that forms the chambers. According to the ordinance, the body will consist of the Chief Justice, the Chief Justice after the CJP and a judge appointed by Justice Isa. In his letter, the CJP legally stated that he could not be questioned as to why he appointed a judge as the third member of the committee, however, “As I have always advocated accountability and transparency, I will state the reasons why Justice Akhtar was replaced.” “Remember, I’m doing this at your insistence so no one gets angry. He gave 11 reasons why he replaced Justice Akhtar from the body. The Chief Justice said that Justice Akhtar had vehemently opposed the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, which also removed the Chief Justice’s dominance over the Supreme Court. “He was one of two judges who used the entire summer vacation; he didn’t pay attention to the backlog,” he said. The letter mentioned that when he was on leave and unavailable for court work, Justice Akhtar insisted on attending committee meetings, indicating his lack of confidence in the next senior judge, Justice Yahya Afridi. “The law [also] states that urgent cases are to be resolved within 14 days, but this statutory provision and the constitutional right to review were negated by [Munib Akhtar’s] refusal to hear urgent constitutional cases while he was on leave. “Disrespecting those who were his seniors (ad hoc judges) and selecting 1,100 specific cases and limiting them to hearing only those cases, something completely unprecedented,” he said as another reason for removing a senior judge from the commission. The letter mentioned that Justice Akhtar did not allow ad hoc judges to be part of the Appellate Panel of the Supreme Sharia Court to hear long-pending cases as another reason for the Chief Justice’s decision. CJP Isa cited his rude and unreasonable behavior towards a prominent member of the committee and walking out of the meeting as another reason for deciding to expel Justice Akhtar from the committee. The said committee consisted of all the presidents of the courts, senior judges and prominent members of the bar association. The chief justice also said that the bench headed by Justice Akhtar adjourned most of the cases and often finished its work before 11 am; concerns expressed by his judges. He also said Elder Puisne issued a stay order in the audio leakage case and did not repair it to be heard. In a letter written to the Supreme Court registrar on September 23, Justice Shah expressed concern over the restoration of the bench and the removal of Justice Akhtar from the bench within hours of the order being issued. In his letter, Justice Mansoor noted that no reasons were given as to why the second chief justice, Justice Akhtar, was removed from the committee. “Furthermore, no reasons were given as to why another Chief Justice was ignored and instead a fourth Chief Justice was nominated as a member of the commission. “Such unfortunate cherry-picking and undemocratic performance of a one-man show is exactly what the law sought to discourage and replace the position taken by the full bench of this court in Raja Amer,” he wrote.
