Fact-check: No, chief justice of Pakistan has not appointed Justice Mansoor Ali Shah as head of constitutional benches

Social media is abuzz with claims, viewed over 400,000 times, that the chief justice of Pakistan has appointed Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, the senior-most judge in the Supreme Court, as the head of the new constitutional benches.

This claim is inaccurate as of yet.

Claim

"Big news," wrote a social media user on X (formerly Twitter) on October 26, "Chief Justice Yahya Afridi has appointed Justice Mansoor Ali Shah as the head of the constitutional benches." At the time of writing, the post had been viewed over 235,000 times, reposted over 3,400 times, and liked over 15,000 times.

Similar claims were echoed by other users on the platform, with one user asserting that the chief justice made the decision because Justice Shah was a childhood friend.

Other such claims can be viewed here and here.

Fact

No such decision has been made by the chief justice of Pakistan, nor do the recent constitutional amendments allow him to make this decision unilaterally.

According to the Attorney General of Pakistan, Mansoor Usman Awan, who spoke to Geo Fact Check, the nomination of judges for the constitutional benches will be determined by the judicial commission through a majority vote.

"And the senior-most judge from amongst those [nominated] judges will be the head," he said. "So no decision has been taken as yet."

The judicial commission is slated to meet this week. 

Following recent constitutional amendments, the newly constituted judicial commission will include the following members who will vote by majority to decide on the judges and terms of the constitutional benches:

1. Chief Justice of Pakistan — Chairperson
2. Three most senior Judges of the Supreme Court — Members
3. Most senior Judge of the Constitutional benches — Member
4. Federal Minister for Law and Justice — Member
5. Attorney General of Pakistan — Member
6. An advocate with at least fifteen years of Supreme Court practice, nominated by the Pakistan Bar Council for a term of two years — Member
7. Two members from the Senate and two from the National Assembly (two from the Treasury Benches, one from each House, and two from the Opposition Benches, one from each House) — Members
8. A woman or non-Muslim, other than a Parliament member, eligible to be a Senator as a technocrat, nominated by the Speaker of the National Assembly for a two-year term — Member
   

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