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Rs 15.00 | Vol XIV No 42 I 8 Pages I Islamabad Edition
APEX COURT TERMS REVIEW OF ORDERS AND JUDGMENTS LAW ‘NULL AND VOID’
T
ISLAMABAD
STAFF REPORT
HE Supreme Court (SC) on Friday struck down the Supreme Court (Review of Judgments and Orders) Act 2023, which expands the scope of a review petition. A three-member SC bench had reserved its verdict in the case on June 19 with an observation that decision regarding the case would determine the fate of the Election
Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) review against April 4 verdict of fixing May 14 as the date for holding Punjab Assembly elections. A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Munib Akhtar, and Justice Ijazul Ahsan pronounced the reserved verdict. The apex court, in a unanimous verdict on Friday, ruled that the Supreme Court (Review of Judgments and Orders) Act 2023 was “unconstitutional”, dampening the hopes of ex-PM Nawaz Sharif and Jahangir
Tareen who were seeking to challenge their lifetime disqualifications. The detailed verdict said that the law was “repugnant to and ultra vires the Constitution” while being beyond the legislative competence of Parliament. “It is accordingly struck down as null and void and of no legal effect,” the order said. The order said that any attempt by way of ordinary legislation to interfere in the scope of the SC’s powers and jurisdiction, including but not limited to its review juris-
diction, would constitute a wrong and erroneous reading and interpretation of the Constitution. The judgement further said that there was no “express authorisation” in the Constitution which empowered Parliament to enlarge the SC’s review jurisdiction under Article 188. “In addition, the 2023 Act does not ‘enlarge’ review jurisdiction, it ‘creates’ a new appellate jurisdiction which has no constitutional basis, sanction or authorisation,” the order said.
It further said that any legislation interfering with the independence of the judiciary, would by its nature and from its very inception, be “unconstitutional, null, void and of no legal effect”. It said that a constitutional amendment was needed to convert the court’s review jurisdiction into an appellate jurisdiction. “It is a well-recognised principle that ordinary law cannot amend, change, delete of add to the Constitution,” the order said.
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