The Supreme Court on Tuesday stopped accountability courts from issuing a final verdict in graft cases. The court issued the directives while hearing the first-ever intra-court appeals against its Sept 15 majority judgment, which struck down amendments to the accountability law.
It adjourned the hearing till the detailed verdict on the law clipping the chief justice’s powers is released.
The larger bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa and including Justice Aminuddin, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi took up two ICAs — one filed by the federal government and the other by former SSGCL managing director Zuhair Ahmed Siddiqui.
The five-judge SC bench took up the ICAs in line with its Oct 11 short order in which the PDM government-made law to regulate the affairs of the top court — namely the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act 2023 — was upheld. On Oct 26, the Supreme Court had also issued a circular for the information of all concerned that any appeal filed in the top court against the decisions taken on petitions moved under Article 184(3) of the Constitution should be moved in the form of ICA.
The circular issued by the registrar’s office had explained that “Section 5 of the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act 2023 provides that an appeal will lie before this court against an order passed by this court while exercising jurisdiction under Article 184(3) of the Constitution”. On Tuesday, the federal government, in an application dated Oct 30, urged the apex court to adjourn the hearing till the week starting from Nov 6 due to the unavailability of its counsel.
The plea, submitted by Advocate on Record Anis Muhammad Shahzad, stated that the counsel for the government, Makhdoom Ali Khan, had been “granted general adjournment” till Nov 3, and went to Paris. He was scheduled to return on Nov 4 but found out on Saturday (October 28) that the hearing had been fixed for today. The application further said that all return flights to Pakistan on Oct 28 and 29 were “completely sold out, making a timely return impossible”.
