Law minister supports SC’s public interest jurisdiction

The right to appeal can be counterproductive, creating unnecessary delays, says Dr Farogh Nasim

ISLAMABAD : Diverging from the stance of major political parties and superior bars, Law Minister Dr Farogh Nasim is supporting the superior judiciary’s use of public interest jurisdiction under Article 184(3) of the Constitution.

In an informal talk with media persons on Thursday, Nasim expressed satisfaction over the exercise of suo motu powers by the superior judiciary, saying that it was necessary to keep a check on the executive branch.

Nasim said that he did not support the idea of the right to appeal against judgments rendered by the apex court under Article 184(3) of the Constitution.

There was no need to amend the jurisdiction used by the SC in matters of public interest.

“The right to appeal can be counterproductive, creating unnecessary delays,” he insisted.



He also defended the Chief Justice of Pakistan’s (CJP) discretionary powers to set up benches and fix cases.

Nasim gave an impression that he was a strong supporter of judicial activism.

However, his views on Article 184(3) of the constitution negated resolutions adopted by superior bars which called for regulating suo motu powers under the same article.

Even major mainstream political parties are convinced that the right to appeal should be allowed in suo motu cases.

PPP’s latest manifesto stated that Article 184(3) had been used in ways that “did not inspire great confidence in its use by courts in human rights issues”.

“This article will be revisited in the light of Article 10(A) of the Constitution, introduced through 18th Amendment, guaranteeing the right to fair trial, observations and recommendations of International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and various bar bodies in the country,” the manifesto stated.

However, Nasim believed that the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) should be active to try the judges involved in misconduct under Article 209 of the Constitution.

He also urged the apex court to interpret the incompetence of a judge so that proceedings of misconduct could be initiated.

The law minister also suggested that plans were afoot to effectively deal with litigations faced by the country at various international forums and their effects.



“We are holding meetings … to evolve strategy to deal (with) cases pending at different international tribunals,” he said.

However the law minister urged the superior judiciary to be careful in dealing with financial agreements in which international arbitration clause was added.

The law minister also indicated amending laws for quick disposal of cases.

“We are also planning to introduce an ‘e-law system’ with the cooperation of the ministry of Information Technology (IT) and Telecommunication to making information on legal matters accesible.”

Farogh also said that he had instructed the law secretary that no matter relating to the former army chief, Pervez Musharraf, should not be put before him for legal advice, adding that he would not give any advice to the government on this matter.

Interestingly, he served as Musharraf’s top attorney in the treason case agsinst him.

He also expected that the newly-appointed Attorney-General, Anwar Mansoor Khan, would also refrain from giving any legal advice in this regard.

Mansoor had also served as one of the counsels of Musharraf in the treason case.

Earlier, the federal government issued a notification regarding the appointment of Anwar Mansoor Khan as the new attorney-genertal.

Dr Farogh Nasim also confirmed the law ministry’s summary which mentioned that Khalid Javed Khan had expressed unwillingness to continue.

However, the federal government issued a notification, removing Khalid Javed.

Legal experts, including PTI leaders, are visibly upset over the issuance of this notification.