2026 SCMR 22 SUPREME-COURT

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Syed SAAD ALI VS FEDERATION OF PAKISTAN through Secretary Ministry Words of a statute to bear their plain meaning unless context or purpose requires otherwise---Scope---Words contained in statutes, rules, or regulations, are first to be understood in their natural, ordinary, or popular sense, and phrases and sentences are construed according to their grammatical meaning, unless that leads to some absurdity or unless there is something in the context, or in the object of the statute, to suggest the contrary. S. 27---Civil aviation authority Service Regulations, 2000, Regln.21(1)---Contract employment---Vires of law, challenge to---Provision of law [i.e. Regulation 21(1) of Regulations 2000] limiting contract service to a maximum of five years was challenged by the employees---High Court's omission to adjudicate upon the question of vires of the law---Effect and validity---'Sub-silentio', doctrine of---applicability and scope---Incidence where a court decides a lis without appreciating or addressing a particular point of law raised before it---Legality---Decision rendered without addressing a specific question of law raised before it lacks authoritative weight---Supreme Court remanded the matter to High Court for fresh adjudication. Facts in brevity were that the petitioners (contract employees) were appointed on a contract basis in various posts within the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) after qualifying a merit-based recruitment process and thereafter challenged Regulation 21(1) of the revised CAA Service Regulations, 2019, which limited contract service to a maximum of five years. The High Court while dismissing the petitions, confined itself to holding that CAA had no statutory rules, without adjudicating upon the plea of ultra vires raised against Regulation 21(1) of the Regulations, 2000. It was an admitted position that the High Court neither considered the plea of vires of the Regulation under challenge nor discussed anything in this regard in the impugned judgment which completely ignored and overlooked the same. Therefore, doctrine of 'sub silentio' was applicable to the present matter since the impugned judgment was rendered without specifically and precisely avowing or attending to the question of law raised for determination. Impugned judgment was set aside and the matter was remanded to the High Court for fresh adjudication. Expressions "ultra vires" and "intra vires"---Meaning, concept and scope---The expression ultra vires means "beyond the powers". Sub-silentio, doctrine of---Meaning, concept, scope and application---The doctrine of "sub-silentio" accentuates a legal principle where a judgment is rendered without specifically and precisely attending to the exact question of law raised for determination. A decision is not binding if it was reached without argument, without reference to the critical terms of law, and without citation of authority. Ultra vires, doctrine of---Scope---Constitutionality of any law, rules, or regulations can be scrutinized and surveyed, and the law can be struck down if it is found offending the Constitution due to absence of law-making competence or violation of fundamental rights.

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