PTI challenges Practice and Procedure Committee decisions in absence of Justice Mansoor

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has filed a petition challenging the legality of the actions taken by the Supreme Court’s Practice and Procedure Committee in the absence of Justice Mansoor Ali Shah.

The petition was submitted by PTI’s Additional Secretary General Firdous Shamim Naqvi, through PTI’s counsel Barrister Ali Zafar, arguing that the committee’s decisions made on September 23 and October 1 should be declared void.

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The Practice and Procedure Committee, headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa and including Justice Aminuddin Khan, passed several key rulings on these dates. However, PTI contends that the absence of Justice Shah during these deliberations invalidates the decisions.

The petition requests that all court proceedings, decrees, and actions taken in the context of the September 23 and October 1 judgments be deemed illegal and of no effect.

In the petition, the Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Registrar of the Supreme Court have also been named as respondents. PTI’s legal team has sought immediate attention to what they argue is a breach of proper judicial procedure, questioning the legitimacy of the committee’s decisions without the full bench present.

The plea says that it was decided during the committee meeting to make an attempt to convince Justice Munib Akhtar to join the bench and if he chooses not to join, then another judge be appointed instead. The petition argues that an incomplete committee does not have the authority to make such decisions.

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The petition says, “The rationale for entrusting the responsibility of bench formation to such a collegiate body is to ensure that three independent minds are engaged in the decision-making process. Only after the collective consideration of these three individuals can benches of the Supreme Court be constituted, and cases be fixed before them.”

The petition further states, “It is a matter of public record that Mr. Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, one of the three members of the committee, was not present at the so-called committee meetings held on 23-09-2024 and 01-10-2024, during which it was decided by the Chief Justice and his nominee to schedule the titled review petition before the relevant benches. Consequently, the decision to fix the titled review petition before the relevant benches do not constitute the Committee as required under Section 2(1) of the Practice and Procedure Act. This is due to the fact that only two members of the committee were present at the said meeting, and the full membership of the committee was not in attendance. Therefore, both meetings are liable to be declared illegal and the decisions made thereunder corum-non-judice, ab initio and non-est.”