Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, the most senior judge in Pakistan’s Supreme Court, was expected to become Chief Justice in October 2024 after retiring Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa’s departure. However, the federal government appointed Yahya Afridi as the Chief Justice of Pakistan days after the passage of the controversial 26th Constitutional Amendment.
Justice Shah, along with Justice Munib Akhtar on Tuesday written a letter to Chief Justice Afridi requesting him to call upon the full court to consider arguments against the 26th amendment.
Justice Mansoor Ali Shah
Born on 28 November 1962, in Peshawar, Shah attended Aitchison College and then obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics and French from the University of the Punjab in 1984. He then received a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) degree from Punjab University Law College in the years 1986-1988. He also completed Masters in economics from the same university in 1988 and further went to Downing College, Cambridge for studying law, acquiring the B.A. and M.A. degrees in Law.
His first judicial appointment was to the Lahore High Court (LHC) on September 15, 2009. He is known to be an environmental activist; he was appointed Chief Justice of the LHC on June 27, 2016, and introduced changes to make the judiciary accountable. His leadership brought salutary strides in institutional transparency and administrative reforms.
He is currently working with the Supreme Court in Pakistan after his appointment to this prestigious organization by the Judicial Commission in January of last year. Authored of many judgements on constitutional law, human rights and environmental issues, Shah’s tenure at the SC has been marked by his focus on reforms.
