Constitutional bench dismisses 15 cases, imposes fines for frivolous litigation

A constitutional bench of Pakistan’s Supreme Court concluded hearings in 18 cases, dismissing 15 petitions deemed frivolous and imposing fines totalling Rs60,000 to deter further baseless litigation.

The bench, led by Justice Aminuddin Khan, included Justices Jamal Mandokhail, Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Musarrat Hilali, Hasan Azhar Rizvi, and Naeem Akhtar Afghan, Express News reported.

The court imposed fines on petitioners to discourage unnecessary cases from burdening the judiciary.

Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar remarked that allowing such petitions could lead to excessive litigation, while Justice Jamal Mandokhail noted that similar baseless cases contribute to the backlog of over 60,000 cases.

Among the dismissed cases was a petition seeking to ban marriages between Pakistanis and foreign nationals, for which the court fined the petitioner Rs20,000.

Another petition challenging legislation from the previous government and one concerning foreign assets were also dismissed, each incurring a Rs20,000 fine.

The court postponed hearings in three other cases, including a petition challenging the appointment of Arif Alvi as President.

The court issued a re-notice to the petitioner after failing to confirm the initial service of notice.

Justice Mandokhail suggested that fines are essential in discouraging unfounded lawsuits.

New bench to review colour-coded cases

The newly formed constitutional bench of the Supreme Court were transfered cases after completion of their colour coding earlier this week.

This was decided in a meeting held on November 6 in the chamber of Justice Aminuddin Khan— the head of the newly formed constitutional bench. The meeting had been convened to work out modalities of rapid functioning of the benches.

According to the minutes of the meeting issued on Monday, Justice Khan was briefed about the pendency of the cases under Article 184(1), 184(3) and 186 including human rights cases.

It said the current working/practice of processing of the constitution petitions and proposed strategy for future adoption were also placed before the head of the constitutional bench.

The participants agreed that color coding of the cases should be done.

In this regard, the meeting tasked Mazhar Ali Khan, a senior research officer at the Supreme Court, with scrutinizing the cases arising out of Article 199 of the Constitution.

The minutes said the head of the bench will, however, decide about listing of cases, formation of further constitutional benches, issuance of court roster and the number of cases to be heard each week in consultation with the remaining two senior most members of the constitutional benches. "As in accordance with Article 191A Clause (4), a committee comprising the most senior judge of the constitutional bench and next two most senior judges from amongst the judges nominated under clause (1), has to constitute a bench consisting of not less than five judges for the purposes noted in clause (3) of the Instant Article."

It said as one member of the committee was out of the country, the next meeting of the three-member committee will be scheduled upon his arrival.