CJP Afridi bars Justice Mansoor from Yale conference trip

• Justice Mansoor being invided to conference for past five years.
• Sources say Justice Mansoor due present paper on AI and judiciary. 
• School, Justice Mansoor submit formal request to top judge. 

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi has once again refused to grant Justice Mansoor Ali Shah a no-objection certificate (NOC) to attend an international event abroad.

Last month, Yale Law School in the United States invited Justice Mansoor to participate in a conference — “Global Constitutionalism 2025” — scheduled for September 10 to 13, The News reported.

It was learnt that the school has been inviting Justice Mansoor to the conference for the past five years. The gathering is attended by senior judges from around the world as well as renowned scholars from Yale, Harvard and Princeton universities.

Sources said that Justice Mansoor was scheduled to present a paper on artificial intelligence and the judiciary at the event. Yale Law School had also made a formal written request to the CJP to officially nominate Justice Mansoor. 

On August 6, Justice Mansoor himself submitted the same request to the chief justice. Sources revealed that the Supreme Court Registrar office conveyed in its response to the school that the new judicial year would begin on September 8, marked by a full-court session in which the annual programme is reviewed. 

The office had further informed the school that this session, along with key institutional events and interactions with the legal community, has become a tradition. It added that the participation of all judges in the opening ceremony of the new judicial year is essential for collective deliberation, setting priorities, and determining the institutional direction.

In these circumstances, the Registrar Office conveyed that the Supreme Court was not in a position to facilitate Justice Mansoor’s participation in the event.

Sources said that Justice Mansoor, in a letter dated August 15, once again requested the chief justice to issue him the NOC, citing several reasons why it should be granted. Earlier, in February, Justice Mansoor’s request for leave to attend arbitration events in Saudi Arabia was also denied, forcing him to cancel his trip.