Court matters: Federal Shariat Court allows plea to curtail tribunal head’s powers

The petitioner claimed that authority given to the head was un-Islamic as all men are equal.

KARACHI: A Federal Shariat Court’s (FSC) full bench allowed on Tuesday a petition seeking curtailment of powers exercised by the chairperson of the federal service tribunal.

FSC chief justice Dr Agha Rafiq Ahmed Khan headed the bench, which comprised Justice Allama Dr Fida Muhammad Khan and Justice Ashraf Jahan as its members. Captain (retd) Mukhtar Ahmed had filed a Shariat petition, challenging Sections 3-A (2) (c), 4 (1) (a), 6 and 7 of the Service Tribunal Act 1973.

The petitioner informed the judges that one of the sections of the act in question provided that the opinion of the tribunal’s chairperson would prevail, if the members were equally divided in a case and he was himself a member of the tribunal. In the light of the Holy Quran, Sunnah and Hadith all human beings are equal, he argued.

Therefore, the legal provision under which the tribunal head’s opinion would prevail was un-Islamic and against the Shariah, he added.

He also challenged Section 4(1), 6 and 7 of the act, which state that any officer aggrieved by any decision of the tribunal can appeal against it within a period of 30 days.

The three judges heard arguments presented by the petitioner, the federal law officer and the representatives of the four provinces.

They passed a short order saying: “We allow this petition to the extent of Section 3-A (2) (c) of the Service Tribunal Act, 1973, which provides that the opinion of the Chairman shall prevail, if the members are equally divided and he is himself a member of the tribunal.”

The bench dismissed, however, the second request made in the plea regarding the time period prescribed to file an appeal. A detailed judgment would be issued later.

Three convicts acquitted

The same bench, meanwhile, acquitted three convicts, facing death and life imprisonment, on the basis of benefit of doubt. Fida Hussain was sentenced to death while co-accused, Muhammad Hussain and Makhan, were handed down life imprisonment sentences after a Hyderabad sessions court found them guilty of shooting to death Abdul Basit for resisting an armed house robbery in 2006.

The three convicts had challenged their sentences before the Federal Shariat Court, which accepted their appeals on Tuesday. The court set aside their sentences, ordering their release from prison, if they were not required in any other case.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2014.