Supreme Court declares Review of Judgment Law unlawful

The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday struck down the Supreme Court (Review of Judgments and Orders) Act 2023, which expands the scope of a review petition.

A three-member SC bench had reserved its verdict in the case on June 19 with an observation that decision on the case would determine the fate of the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) review against April 4 verdict of fixing May 14 as the date for holding Punjab Assembly elections.

The CJP had also observed that the court welcomes and accepts that there should be remedy to the orders and judgements issued under Article 184(3) but such remedy should be crafted in accordance with the constitution by adding valid grounds rather than ordinary legislation. Why the government should not consider giving definition of the public importance — an important ingredient — while invoking petitions under Article 184(3), he wondered.