Chief Justice Qazi Faiz Isa is scheduled to retire on October 25. Under the old rule, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, the senior most judge after him, was to hold this post but now he has lagged behind in this race.
After much uproar in the neighboring country Pakistan, the name of the new Chief Justice has finally been announced. Now Justice Yahya Afridi will be the new Chief Justice there. He will take oath of office on Saturday i.e. 26th October. Current Chief Justice Qazi Faiz Isa is retiring on October 25. He was nominated by a Special Parliamentary Committee (SPC) last night, to which President Asif Ali Zardari Bhutto gave his approval.
Recently, after the 26th Constitutional Amendment passed by the Parliament of Pakistan, the tradition of appointment of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court has now changed. According to the new rules, now a Special Parliamentary Committee (SPC) will submit to the government the proposal for appointment of one of the three senior judges of the Supreme Court as Chief Justice. After this the government will send it to the President for approval. After getting the approval of the President, the recommended person will be made the Chief Justice. However, as per the previous rule, the senior most judge of the Supreme Court was appointed Chief Justice under the seniority principle. There was a lot of ruckus by the opposition parties against the constitutional amendment.
How was the appointment made?
Chief Justice Qazi Faiz Isa is scheduled to retire on October 25. Under the old rule, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, the senior most judge after him, was to hold this post but now he has lagged behind in this race. Justice Yahya Afridi's name was proposed after a long meeting of the Special Parliamentary Committee on Tuesday. Justice Afridi was third in the seniority list (except the current CJP), while Justice Munib Akhtar is the second most senior judge.
According to Pakistan Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar, the special parliamentary committee had proposed Justice Afridi's name to the government with two-thirds majority. The first meeting of the parliamentary panel was held behind closed doors in the Parliament House, with members from both the government and the opposition. However, members of Sunni Ittehad Council, backed by opposition party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), had boycotted the first meeting. Because of which a second meeting was called.
Who is Justice Yahya Afridi?
Justice Afridi, born on January 23, 1965, will be the 30th Chief Justice of Pakistan. He was sworn in as the youngest Chief Justice of Peshawar High Court in December 2016. Then in June 2018, he was elevated to the Supreme Court. On his appointment, Pakistan's Information Minister Ataullah Tarar said that this appointment has been done in a very transparent and democratic manner keeping in mind the supremacy of the Parliament under the new constitutional amendment.
A report in Pakistani newspaper Dawn said that according to the notification issued today by the Ministry of Law and Justice, President Asif Ali Zardari appointed Justice Afridi as the new Chief Justice of the country under Clause 3 of Article 175A along with Articles 177 and 179 of the Constitution. Have done. It said the President is pleased to appoint Justice Afridi as the next Chief Justice for a term of three years with effect from October 26.
