• Constitutional bench dismisses plea for deferment of appeals against military trials
• Explains why it fined ex-CJP Khawaja
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has ruled that decisions made by courts of competent jurisdiction remain valid and protected even if constitutional amendments or legislation are later declared invalid.
The observation — which came to justify why the court imposed a fine of Rs20,000 on Dec 9 on an application by former chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Jawwad S. Khawaja — was made by a seven-member constitutional bench, headed by Justice Aminud Din Khan.
Mr Khawaja’s application sought to defer hearings on intra-court appeals (ICAs) challenging the trial of civilians by military courts until the constitutional validity of the 26th Amendment was determined. But the court rejected the plea as frivolous, imposing a fine of Rs20,000.
In its five-page order issued on Thursday, the bench expressed surprise over the argument presented by the petitioner’s counsel, describing it as lacking merit.
The bench then asked the counsel whether any Supreme Court existed in Pakistan today. The counsel admitted that it was in existence and he was before the Supreme Court. The order said the present Supreme Court was working in accordance with the Constitution, as amended through the 26th Amendment.
The court said it had gone through the record and it transpired that out of the seven-member constitutional bench hearing these appeals, six judges were members of the earlier regular bench hearing the appeals since the 26th Amendment came into force on Oct 21, 2024.
“We have seen that even previous to that, the respondent side was resisting the hearing of the appeals,” the order regretted, adding that even on behalf of the applicant, the formation of the bench was objected to.
Thereafter, when seven-member bench was constituted by the three-judge Committee under Section 2(1) of the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023, the applicant was satisfied with the seven-member bench.
Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2024
