4 apex court judges show concern over approval of SC rules thru circulation

Four judges of the Supreme Court (SC) have written a letter to Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Yahya Afridi, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Monday.

Sources told the 24News TV channel that in their letter, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Ayesha Malik had expressed their reservations over the approval of the apex court rules through circulation.

In the letter, the judges questioned the approval process of the apex court rules, saying that they were never formally presented before the full court for discussion or approval.

The judges said they recently received a letter about a full court meeting, but the agenda was limited to only one point — addressing issues arising from the new rules. However, they argued that since the full court was not originally involved in approving these rules, there is no justification to now call a full court meeting just to amend them.

They also criticized the claim that the rules were approved through “circulation”, stating that circulation is typically used for routine administrative matters, not for something as important as court rules.

The letter further mentioned that the proposed meeting refers again to a committee formed by the Chief Justice, but the judges questioned its legitimacy. They said that without resolving the main issue of how the rules were approved, attending the meeting would be of no real use.

CJP chairs full court meeting

Also on Monday, the CJP chaired a full court meeting at which an in-depth discussion was held on the Supreme Court Rules, 2025.

Suggestions regarding apex court rules came under discussion at the meeting that lasted for half an hour. 

The declaration of the meeting was expected to be announced soon.

Also Read: Always worked for supremacy of constitution, says CJP Afridi

It is pertinent to mention here that in a letter to the CJP on Thursday, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, besides raising other issues, had also asked the same question that why was the revision of the Supreme Court Rules 1980 approved by circulation rather than after discussion and deliberation in a full court meeting. 

He had said he was reluctantly writing it in “discharge of an unavoidable institutional duty”, adding that what compelled him was “your (CJP’s) persistent and complete indifference”.

The judge wrote that his “repeated letters and written communications to you (CJP) on the undermentioned issues have gone unanswered and undiscussed, adding that such silence from the chief justice to the senior puisne judge was “not merely discourteous; it undermines the collegial traditions of this court and violates the institutional courtesy without which a constitutional court cannot function”.

Justice Mansoor said that with the new judicial year commencing from Monday, CJP Afridi had convened a judicial conference to review the reforms undertaken under his leadership and to lay down priority areas for the coming year.

Justice Mansoor said that he trusted CJP Afridi to use the judicial conference as a “moment of institutional renewal by answering these questions and reaffirming the principles of collegiality and constitutional fidelity”.

Reporter: Amanat Gishkori