ISLAMABAD(National Times)- The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) on Wednesday regretted the course adopted by a bench of the Supreme Court on an already determined matter by describing the approach as \u201csomething that raises serious concerns regarding judicial discipline, legal norms and institutional propriety\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe course adopted in the subsequent order, authored by Justice Munib Akhtar, raises serious concerns regarding judicial discipline, legal norms and institutional propriety, particularly when the earlier determination remained operative and was already the subject of review proceedings,\u201d observed FCC Chief Justice Aminuddin Khan in his order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A two-judge FCC bench, comprising Justice Aminuddin and Justice Ali Baqar Najafi, had taken up dozens of review petitions against a Dec 28, 2021 SC judgment, whereby leave to appeal was refused in a batch of petitions arising out of Sindh High Court\u2019s 2020 order concerning the constitutional validity of the Income Support Levy Act 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The two-judge SC bench had upheld that the Income Support Levy Act, having been enacted through the Finance Act 2013 without observance of the legislative procedure prescribed by the Constitution, did not acquire the status of a valid law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bench comprised Justice Aminuddin \u2014 who now heads the FCC formed under the 26th Amendment \u2014 and Justice Qazi Faez Isa, who went on to become the SC chief justice in 2023. Justice Isa penned the judgment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the 2021 decision and the pendency of the present review petitions, a subsequent three-judge SC bench, including Justice Akhtar, through its June 21, 2022 order, granted leave on substantially identical constitutional questions and expressly contemplated reconsideration of the earlier determination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his judgment, the FCC chief justice also criticised the SC\u2019s subsequent conduct by describing the development as an aspect of institutional significance concerning judicial discipline and consistency of judicial pronouncements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Justice Aminuddin recalled that the constitutional validity of the Income Support Levy Act had already been examined by the two-judge SC bench in the \u2018Commissioner Inland Revenue versus Muhammad Mustafa Gigi\u2019 case in which the appeal was refused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The FCC top judge went on to express \u201cserious concerns\u201d over the 2022 SC ruling by Justice Akhtar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD(National Times)- The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) on Wednesday regretted the course adopted by a bench of the Supreme Court on an already determined matter by describing the approach as \u201csomething that raises serious concerns regarding judicial discipline, legal norms and institutional propriety\u201d. \u201cThe course adopted in the subsequent order, authored by Justice Munib Akhtar, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135540,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest_news","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n