Justice Yayha Afridi nominated as next CJP

ISLAMABAD: The Special Parliamentary Committee on Tuesday nominated Justice Yahya Afridi as the next Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP), ARY News reported.

Incumbent CJP Qazi Faez Isa is set to retire on October 25, 2024 and will be replaced by Justice Yahya Afridi, who is third in the seniority list.

Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar also confirmed the development and said that the Special Parliamentary Committee has taken the decision with two-thirds majority.

Meanwhile, the committee sent Justice Yahya Afridi’s name to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif who will forward the same to President Asif Ali Zardari for final approval.

The Special Parliamentary Committee, formed after the 26th constitutional amendment, held its meeting with nine out of 12 members in attendance to deliberate the three names for a top judge slot.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Senator Azam Nazir Tarar, Khawaja Asif, Ahsan Iqbal, and Shaista Pervaiz; Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) Farooq H Naek, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, and Syed Naveed Qamar; Rana Ansar of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and Senator Kamran Murtaza of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) attended the meeting.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, Barrister Ali Zafar, and SIC chief Sahibzada Hamid Raza abstained from the meeting.

The committee also deliberated on the names of  Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar.

Justice Yahya Afridi enrolled as an advocate of the high court in 1990 and as an advocate of the Supreme Court in 2004. He served as an Assistant Advocate General for the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and as a Federal Counsel for the government of Pakistan while in practice.

He was elevated to the bench of the Peshawar High Court as Additional Judge in 2010 and was confirmed as a Judge of the Peshawar High Court on 15th March 2012.

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Justice Yahya Afridi became the first judge from the Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) to assume the office of the Chief Justice of the Peshawar High Court when he took oath on 30th December 2016. He served in that office until his elevation as a Judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan on 28th June 2018.

How CJP is appointed after 26th constitutional amendment?

The constitutional amendment to Article 175A paved the way for key changes to how judges are appointed, shifting more authority to a 12-member parliamentary committee – comprised of eight members from the National Assembly (NA) and four senators – to appoint the CJP, selecting from among the three most senior judges.

After amendment to clause 3 of Article 175A, the top judge is now appointed on the recommendation of the Special Parliamentary Committee from amongst the three most senior SC judges, rather than the president designating the most senior judge of the Supreme Court as the CJP.

After finalising the name,  the committee forwards the nominee’s name to the prime minister who is bound to forward the same to the president for final approval.