Latest news with #MansoorAliShah
Express Tribune
23-04-2025
- General
- Express Tribune
Supreme Court affirms women's right to dowry, gifts post-divorce
Listen to article The Supreme Court of Pakistan has issued a landmark ruling affirming that a bride retains full ownership of her dowry and wedding gifts even after divorce, Express News reported. The judgment, authored by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and spanning seven pages, clearly states that all items given to the bride as dowry or gifts are her unconditional and exclusive property. The court ruled that neither the husband nor his relatives can claim ownership of dowry items or bridal gifts. Moreover, any gift presented to the groom or his family will not be considered part of the dowry. The judiciary, the verdict added, is only authorised to order the recovery of property that belongs exclusively to the bride. In its decision, the court emphasised that whether items were provided by the bride's family, the groom, or the groom's family, they remain the legal property of the bride. However, the ruling does not serve as an endorsement of the cultural practice of dowry. The judgment further clarified that, in line with Islamic teachings, only the haq mehr (mandatory marital payment) is obligatory, while the dowry is a societal custom that often leads to exploitation, pressure, and discrimination against women. The Supreme Court also noted that the judgment has been made more accessible to the public by including a QR code for ease of reference. The case was brought before the Supreme Court by petitioner Muhammad Sajid, who had sought a reduction in his financial obligations, including the return of dowry, following his divorce. The court dismissed his appeal and upheld the decision of the Lahore High Court, reaffirming the bride's right to her dowry and maintenance.
Express Tribune
21-04-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Justice Mansoor Ali Shah takes oath as acting CJP
Listen to article Justice Mansoor Ali Shah was sworn in as the acting chief justice of Pakistan on Monday. The oath-taking ceremony was held at the Supreme Court of Pakistan, where Justice Munib Akhtar administered the oath. Senior lawyers and staff of the Supreme Court were present at the oath-taking ceremony. Justice Mansoor Ali Shah assumes the role during the absence of Chief Justice Yahya Afridi, who is on an official visit to China to attend the 20th Conference of Chief Justices of Supreme Courts of SCO Member States. The conference is scheduled to take place in Hangzhou from April 22 to April 26. During the visit, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is expected to be signed between the Supreme Court of Pakistan and the Supreme People's Court of China. The agreement aims to strengthen judicial cooperation, with a focus on training, information exchange, and collaboration in various legal areas including international commercial law, arbitration, cybercrime, financial crimes, climate change, judicial technology, and dispute resolution. The MoU also seeks to enhance legal assistance in civil matters and improve the enforcement of judicial decisions. Both countries have reiterated their commitment to judicial independence and the rule of law.
Express Tribune
08-02-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
4 SC judges want 26th amend judged before new judges take bench
ISLAMABAD: Four judges of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, in a letter, demanded putting on hold the process of appointment of eight new judges to the apex court till the challenges to the 26th Amendment were decided. The letter — signed by senior puisne judge Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and justices Munib Akhtar, Athar Minallah and Ayesha Malik — was addressed to Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Yahya Afridi. The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) is scheduled to meet on February 10 to consider filling eight vacant seats of judges at the Supreme Court. The JCP approves judicial appointments. It was reconstituted to include four members of parliament by the Constitution (Twenty-sixth Amendment) Act, 2024, which brought numerous changes pertaining to the judiciary. The Supreme Court's Constitutional Bench has taken up a number of challenges to the amendment. "It is requested that the scheduled meeting and the appointment of eight new judges be postponed till the challenge to the 26th Constitutional Amendment is decided one way or the other, or at least until the Constitutional Bench decides the applications for convening a full court to hear and determine that challenge and till the matter of the transfer of judges to the Islamabad High Court and their seniority is finally determined on the judicial side since we are given to understand that such challenges have been launched," the letter reads. The judges said the "existing and continuing state of affairs and certain recent developments" had compelled them to make the request. They pointed out that the challenges to the 26th Amendment were lingering and languishing before the Constitutional Bench. "For diverse reasons, which to some are obvious to the point of being self-evident, these challenges needed to be dealt with by the full court urgently and immediately, and ought, therefore, to have been so heard already. "The request to convene a full court was brought on the record by some of us earlier. However, the matters were sent off to the Constitutional Bench, where a first formal hearing was held after a considerable delay. Now, the aforementioned meeting for induction of new judges has been scheduled surprisingly and rather hurriedly before the next date of hearing in the said matters before the Constitutional bench." The judges said the development could "further imperil and erode the public trust and confidence reposed in the institution". They pointed out that public trust in the judiciary presently hinged "crucially" on how pleas against the amendment were dealt with. "The induction of new judges, at this stage, who are clearly beneficiaries of the amendment, will weigh heavily on the faltering public trust enjoyed by the institution today and unnecessarily make matters more complicated," they added. "The dilemma that will be created if the meeting goes ahead to reach its stated objective can be stated as follows. If the Constitutional Bench accepts the applications and directs the convening of the full court to hear and decide the challenges to the amendment, the question will then inevitably arise as to who will comprise the full court for such purpose. "This is so because if by that time eight new Judges have assumed office as proposed it would create an anomalous situation. On one view the full court would include the new appointees. But they would have come in under the amendment itself. This will, inter alia, give rise to a public perception of court-packing, which would severely damage the image of the highest institution of justice in the country as to its impartiality and independence. "On the other view, the full court for the purposes at hand could only be the judges on the court at the time of the enactment of the amendment, and still in office. But that, some might argue, would not be the full court and contend that in the altered circumstances the full court cannot sit at all for considering the challenges to the amendment. This will again create the perception of court-packing, though this time from different perspective, i.e. to preclude at all a sitting of the full court, which will further dent and erode public confidence in the institution. The net result may be to create an impression of the inevitability of the challenges being heard only by the Constitutional Bench That would reinforce the negativities that, unfortunately, already swirl around the court," the letter reads. The judges questioned why the court was being placed in such a position and "whose agenda and interests are served in so exposing the court to indignity and perhaps even we regret to say ridicule? "Why place the court on the horns of an avoidable dilemma? Is it not therefore imperative that the matter of induction of new judges be reassessed and, for the time being, put to one side? These questions, we believe, answer themselves." The four judges urged that the apex court must carefully consider the full court's timing and composition to preserve its integrity and credibility, which was not just that of the highest judicial institution but of the entire legal system. "Yet, the holding of the meeting may preclude, if not effectively eliminate, precisely any such possibility. Any decision rendered by the full court, if at all constituted after the induction of new judges, may well fail to command public trust and confidence. The only viable solution and option in the present circumstances is therefore to postpone the meeting," the judges reasoned. The letter also detoured to recent developments in the IHC that saw the transfer of new judges and a reshuffling of the seniority order. It said the absence of an oathtaking ceremony made the transfers "suspect". "It appears that the current chief justice of the IHC has taken it upon himself to accord seniority to the transferred judges oblivious to all of the above and other legal and constitutional points which prima facie may well apply," the letter said, pointing to the fact that Justice Sarf¬a¬raz Dogar was now being regarded as the IHC's senior puisne judge. The apex court judges said the developments in the IHC had "certain consequences" for the JCP meeting since nominations for Supreme Court justices are made from the five most senior judges of each high court. "The consequence of the foregoing is that now the judge from the Lahore High Court, having been determined to be the senior puisne judge of the IHC, has become eligible for nomination and appointment as a judge of the Supreme Court at the meeting. "How can this be? How can a judge who would and could not possibly have been eligible for any such consideration at all in his own high court, suddenly and in consequence of the alchemy of a prima facie constitutionally suspect and defective transfer become eligible to be considered for the Supreme Court? What cannot be done directly cannot be done indirectly. "Quite obviously, the slate of candidates, if we may put it so, for consideration at the meeting appears to be constitutionally defective as both including a judge who ought not to be there and excluding one who ought to be (i.e., the fifth senior judge of the IHC). A legally permissible consideration of candidates appears therefore not to be possible in the present circumstances," the letter concluded.
Express Tribune
29-01-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
RO seeks clarification on case listing
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court registrar office has sought an explanation from the officials of the fixer branch for scheduling the constitutional interpretation case in a regular bench led by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah. According to sources, the registrar's office has demanded clarification on how a case meant for a Constitutional Bench (CB) was assigned to a regular bench. The officials have been asked to submit their response within seven days. The issue arose after Justice Shah's bench decided to hear a case concerning Article 191A of the Customs Duty Act. A day earlier, a seven-member CB led by Justice Aminuddin Khan resumed hearing the cases which were earlier placed before a regular bench headed by Justice Shah. However, on January 17, the Supreme Court committee that lists cases before benches withdrew the cases from the regular bench and referred them to the CB committee for re-listing. This irked the regular bench which initiated contempt proceedings against an additional registrar, Nazar Abbas, for violating its order. Later, on January 27, the bench exonerated the official from contempt charges but noted that the SC committees had committed contempt of court.
