Justice Yahya Afridi, who was nominated by a Special Parliamentary Committee (SPC) last night, is set to take oath as the next chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) on Saturday.

Following the passage of the 26th Amendment, the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) will now be “appointed on the recommendation of the Special Parliamentary Committee from amongst the three most senior” SC judges.

Previously, the president used to appoint the CJP based on the seniority principle, according to which Justice Mansoor Ali Shah would be the next CJP.

Since the new CJP is here, let’s take a look at some of his famous cases.

Some important decisions of Justice Yahya Afridi

In 2018, Justice Yahya Afridi was the head of the special bench in the treason case against the dictator Pervez Musharraf. However, he recused after some time after Musharraf’s lawyer objected to his inclusion, saying Justice Afridi was former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry’s lawyer.

In 2020, Justice Yahya rejected Justice Qazi Faiz Isa’s plea against the infamous Presidential Reference against him, saying the fundamental rights of a sitting judge would remain eclipsed so far as their enforcement was not in consonance with the terms of his oath of office. However, he endorsed the quashment of reference by disposing of other petitions moved by a number of bar councils and bar associations.

In 2022, he supported the issuance of show cause notice to Imran Khan in the May 25 Long March case of Tehreek-e-Insaf when it was accused of allegedly flouting a May 25 order of the apex court that defined the limits for the party’s ‘Azadi March’ gathering in Islamabad and thereby committing contempt of court. A five-member SC bench, in a 4-1 split decision, instead sought a reply from Imran on the matter before deciding to issue him a notice.

In 2023, a five-judge bench, which included Justice Yahya, declared that the trial of civilians in the military courts was unconstitutional in May 9 cases.

In the Punjab/Khyber Pakhtunkhwa election case, the petitions were dismissed as pending in the High Court.

In April 2024, he also recused himself from the infamous six IHC judges’ letter to the Supreme Judicial Council case.

In the reserved seat case of SIC-PTI, he supported the position of Tehreek-e-Insaaf by giving a similar position as the other 8 judges on the bench but opposed it due to some other legal issues. And he also wrote his dissenting note in the decision related to the case.

Justice Yahya Afridi was also part of the 9-member larger bench of the Supreme Court on the presidential reference against the execution of former Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.

Justice Yahya Afridi declined to join the three-member judges committee of the Supreme Court Practice and Procedure Ordinance 2024.