ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) - Four senior judges of the country's top court have written a letter to Chief Justice Yahya Afridi, expressing serious reservations over the approval of the new Supreme Court rules through circulation.
The letter, signed by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Athar Minallah, and Justice Ayesha Malik, criticises the procedure adopted for approving the new rules, stating that such important decisions should not be taken through circulation.
According to the letter, while the judges received an invitation for a full court meeting, the new rules were never formally presented before the full bench for approval.
The agenda shared only mentioned addressing issues arising from the new rules—not their endorsement.
The judges argued that since their primary concerns regarding the process remain unresolved, attending the meeting would be of little use.
“The framing and approval of Supreme Court rules is not routine business to be handled through circulation,” the letter stated, adding that “rules framed under the Constitution cannot be validated through circulation.”
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The judges requested that their letter be included in the official minutes of the full court meeting and demanded that the minutes be made public.
Meanwhile, a full court meeting chaired by Chief Justice Yahya Afridi concluded after deliberations on proposed changes to the Supreme Court rules.
The four judges who wrote the letter—Justices Mansoor Ali Shah, Munib Akhtar, Athar Minallah, and Ayesha Malik—did not attend the full court meeting.
The apex court has officially repealed the SC rules of 1980 and enforced the Supreme Court rules 2025, which will come into effect from August 6, 2025.