- TTAP vice chairman requests apex court to set aside Sept 19 order of the registrar and entertain the petition in accordance with law
ISLAMABAD: Tehreek-i-Tahaffuz Ayeen-i-Pakistan (TTAP) Vice Chairman Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar on Thursday filed an appeal before the Supreme Court (SC) against the registrar’s decision to return his petition seeking a full court hearing on challenges to the 26th Constitutional Amendment.
Passed on Oct 21, 2024, the 26th Amendment curtailed the Supreme Court of its suo motu powers and empowered a Special Parliamentary Committee to nominate the next chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) from among the three most senior judges instead of the senior-most one.
The apex court is currently seized with multiple petitions demanding that a full court, rather than the Constitutional Bench (CB) created under the 26th Amendment, hear the matter. The CB is scheduled to resume proceedings on the original appeals on Oct 7 (Tuesday).
“I’ve filed an appeal against the registrar’s decision to return my petition, seeking justice once again. My petition argues that the majority decision of the Practice & Procedure Committee remains valid in law and cases related to the 26th Amend should only be heard by a full court,” Khokhar posted on X.
The appeal, moved through Advocate Shahid Jamil Khan, requested the SC to set aside the Sept 19 order of the registrar and “register and entertain the petition in accordance with law”.
Citing Rule 3 of the SC Rules, the plea named the registrar’s office as a respondent, arguing that the registrar “has no jurisdiction to determine maintainability” of petitions under Article 184(3) — a question that only the court, in its judicial capacity, could decide. Even if a petition appeared non-maintainable, the appeal maintained, the issue “must be placed before the court for adjudication” rather than being decided administratively.
The filing also recalled that CJP Yahya Afridi had disregarded an earlier decision of the Practice and Procedure Committee to bring challenges to the amendment before a full court. According to minutes of communication exchanged with two senior judges, the committee had met on Oct 31, 2024, under the Practice and Procedure Act (PPA) 2023, and recommended a full court hearing. The meeting was convened by senior puisne judge Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Munib Akhtar. However, CJP Afridi, as committee chair, declined to do so.
Later, in minutes dated May 20, 2025, Justice Shah stressed that meaningful consultation was the “core purpose” of the PPA and observed that delegating such powers to the SC registrar was not covered under the law.
Since October last year, several petitions have been filed challenging the 26th Amendment, arguing that it “abrogates, repeals, alters and destroys the basic features of the Constitution” and infringes fundamental rights.
An eight-member CB, headed by Justice Aminuddin Khan, will resume hearings on the set of petitions against the amendment on Tuesday. Other members of the bench include Justices Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Ayesha A. Malik, Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Musarrat Hilali, Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Shahid Bilal Hassan.
