In a letter to the CJP, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah withdraws from the special bench.

Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, the Supreme Court’s most senior judge, excused himself from a special bench to hear a tax case.

The head of the Practice and Procedure Committee, Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, received a letter from Justice Shah on Wednesday.

He said he had written earlier that he would not be a part of special benches until the full court sits on the amendment ordinance.

He stated that “history will never forgive [us] because people are watching what we do.”

As you may remember, Chief Justice Isa led a three-member panel that heard the tax review case on October 4. Included on the court were Justice Shah and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan.

In order to hear the review petition, Justice Shah was added to the bench after he wrote a dissenting note in the case.

Notably, Justice Shah had also voiced concerns with the ordinance amending the Practice and Procedure and had skipped the Practice and Procedure Committee meeting.

In his letter to the Judges Committee, Justice Shah noted that the Practice and Procedure Ordinance was introduced in a hurry and gave an explanation for his decision to not join the committee. Within a few hours after it was put into effect, it was informed. The Judges Committee was reorganized, but no explanation was provided for the expulsion of Justice Muneeb Akhtar, the second-most senior judge.