For the first time after the 26th Amendment, the Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday made public minutes of the judges’ committees’ meetings held between October 31, 2024 and May 29, 2025, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
The minutes also included Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Yahya Afridi’s reply to Justice Mansoor Ali Shah’s letter.
The CJP wrote in his reply that under Article 191 A of the constitution, only the constitutional bench was empowered to hear the application related to 183/3, while the constitutional committee of judges was authorized to fix the hearing of the application.
CJP Afridi further wrote that the judges committee was constituted under the Act of 2023. “I can understand the concern shown by my fellow judges,” he said, adding, “I myself sought an opinion from 13 judges of the apex court on placing the amendment before a full court. Out of 13 judges, nine judges said that the 26th Amendment should be placed before the constitutional bench, not the full court.”
Being a CJP, Afridi went on to say, he did not deem it proper to convene a full court meeting.
Justice Mansoor and Justice Muneeb Akhtar, at a meeting held on October 31, 2024, had decided to place the 26th Amendment before a full court on November 4, 2024.