ISLAMABAD: Senior puisne judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah has raised objection to inclusion of two judges in the larger bench formed to hear the additional registrar’s intra-court appeal (ICA) against issuance of contempt notice.
A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah on January 21, issued the contempt notice to Additional Registrar (Judicial) Nazar Abbas after a slew of cases were withdrawn from the bench and were referred to a committee of the constitutional bench for re-listing.
Following the development, Nazar Abbas filed an ICA against the show-cause notice, which was listed for hearing before a six-member larger bench on Thursday.
An SC committee formed the bench led by Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail and comprising Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Shahid Waheed and Justice Musarrat Hilali by a majority vote. The bench is scheduled to hear the case on January 27.
Taking exception to the bench, Justice Shah said the judges who have a conflict of interest cannot sit on the bench. “Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail and Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar are the members of the committee constituted under clause (4) of Article 191-A of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan,” said Justice Shah in his written objections to the larger bench.
“The said Committee took up the matter of CPLA No.836-K/2020 and fixed it on 27.1.2025 before the Constitutional Bench, hence they cannot be members of the Bench as the decisions of both the Committees are in question in the contempt proceedings,” he said.
Justice Shah said after the meeting of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan on Friday, Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi called an informal meeting of the three-member committee in his chambers.
CJP Afridi, Justice Shah and Justice Aminuddin Khan attended the meeting.
“It was agreed that a larger Bench be constituted to hear the Intra Court Appeal in the matter. I recommended the constitution of a larger Bench comprising five judges in order of seniority, excluding those who cannot hear the said ICA due to conflict of interest.
“However, the CJP expressed that he would like a four-member bench in the matter and the meeting ended there. Later in the night [of January 23], I received a WhatsApp message at 9:33 pm from my Secretary seeking approval regarding a proposed six-member Bench for approval as a member of the Committee.
“I informed my Secretary that I will attend to this file in the morning. Later on my Secretary at 10:28 pm shared the Court Roster on WhatsApp issued by the Registrar after approval from the two members of the Committee constituted under section 2(1) of the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023.
“On receipt of the Court Roster, I communicated my objection through WhatsApp for onward transmission to concerned officials. I am recording the said objection here for record along with the background regarding the constitution of the said larger Bench.
“My objection to this hurriedly constituted larger Bench is that the judges who have conflict of interest in the matter cannot sit on the Bench,” he added.
Justice Shah said that since he did not get a chance to record his opinion on the file as the actual file was never sent to his office and the majority itself decided the matter and issued the roster.
“Therefore, I want this note to be placed on the record of the decision of the Committee dated 23.1.2025 constituting the larger Bench,” he concluded.
