Judges disagree over scope of 1972 ord

In another public display of division in the Supreme Court, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail and Justice Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi on Friday disagreed with each other in the open court regarding implications of the eight-member larger bench’s April 13 order on the legality of the intra-court appeal (ICA).

The Law Reforms Ordinance 1972 provides a remedy of appeal against the decision made upon a constitution petition filed under Article 199 of the Constitution before a single judge. The ordinance was promulgated on April 14, 1972 to provide a remedy of appeal from an order made by a single judge of that court in exercise of power conferred upon it under Article 199 of the Constitution.

Justice Mandokhail says that the question, which needs consideration, is whether a remedy of appeal could be provided to an aggrieved person either through an ordinance or parliamentary legislation in respect of matters decided under the jurisdiction conferred upon a court under Article 199 of the Constitution in view of April 13 order wherein a larger bench has suspended the simple legislation for providing appeal against the judgements in cases filed Article 184(3) of the Constitution.

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Justice Mandokhail also reproduced the para of larger bench's order. The judge noted that since the ordinance has come into force in the territory of Islamabad and the province of Punjab, therefore, this being a constitutional issue regarding the provision of statutory right of appeal through the ordinance against the order of a high court passed under Article 199 of the Constitution and is also a matter of public importance, and issued further notice to the Attorney General for Pakistan, Advocate General, Islamabad, Prosecutor General Islamabad and Advocate General Punjab as provided by Order 27-A of the CPC.

The judge ordered that the matter be placed before the chief justice to pass an appropriate order as to whether this case be heard along with petitions or otherwise.

However, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi dissented with Justice Mandokhail opinion, therefore, the matter is referred to the chief justice of Pakistan for appropriate orders.