2022 PLD 306 SUPREME-COURT-AZAD-KASHMIR

Fields are extracted from the reported citation and judgment text. Where a detail is not stated in the record, it is not shown.

VS art. 184(3)---Suo motu invocation of the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court under art. 184(3) of the Constitution---Scope---Order made by a two Member Bench of the Supreme Court ('the order dated 20-08-2021') on an application directly received and entertained in Court [reported as 2021 SCMR 1602]---Said order took suo motu notice of the grievance expressed in that application submitted by a number of journalists; notices were issued to several Federal Government authorities as well as to the Law Officers of the Federation and the Provinces; next date of hearing in the matter had been fixed for 26.08.2021 before the same Bench that has passed the order dated 20.08.2021---Constitutionality---Two Member Bench through its order dated 20.08.2021 suo motu invoked the jurisdiction of the Court under art. 184(3) of the Constitution, which was a failure to properly abide by, and to apply, the judicial power---Such failure was the result of a lack of conceptual clarity---In respect of the subject matter of the application not only did the two Member Bench self-constitute but, in directing that notices be issued to named functionaries (and directing that replies be furnished before the next date of hearing) and that the matter be listed before it, the Bench also self-perpetuated and self-propagated, which it simply could not be do---Two Member Bench acted in a constitutionally impermissible manner, therefore, its order dated 20-08-2021 [reported as 2021 SCMR 1602] could not be allowed to stand---Supreme Court observed that while the present matter was being heard, the senior member of the two Member Bench that passed the order dated 20-08-2021, filed an application in the present matter, wherein he justified the order dated 20-08-2021; criticized and attacked the formation of the Larger Bench by the acting Chief Justice and the subsequent order of 23-08-2021 made by the Larger Bench [reported as 2021 SCMR 1609]; referred to the order of 23-08-2021 as a "purported order" passed by a "monitoring Bench"; and made a wholly unwarranted attack ostensibly directed at the Registrar of the Court---In order to maintain the dignity of the Court, and not to draw attention to the application in question, the Supreme Court gave directions to expunge the application from the record.

Case information

Judgment text as reported

Other judgments reported in 2022 PLD