The Supreme Court on Tuesday removed Additional Registrar (Judicial) Nazar Abbas over a serious lapse in fixing cases intended for the constitutional bench to a regular bench of the apex court.
According to a press release issued by the Supreme Court’s Public Relations Department, the mistake pertains to fixation of cases where the vires of Custom Act, 1969 were challenged. “These cases were required to be fixed before the constitutional bench but were mistakenly fixed before the regular bench of the Supreme Court, consequently, it led to wastage of time, resources of the institution as well as the parties,” it said.
Summarizing the situation, the press release noted the cases were initially fixed before a three-member bench. During a hearing on Jan. 13, the constitutionality of Section 11A(2) of the Customs Act was challenged and as such the jurisdiction of the regular bench was contested. While the case was adjourned, the judicial branch apprised the Practice and Procedure committee of the lapse. A subsequent meeting of the committee noted that Article 191A(3), read with Article 191A(5) expressly vests such jurisdiction with the constitutional bench.
“The committee therefore withdrew these cases from the regular bench and directed that the same should be placed before the constitutional bench committee for re-fixation,” it read, adding the committee had also directed that in future all cases falling under Article 191A should be placed before the constitutional bench committee irrespective of any order passed by a regular bench.
“The committee directed the registrar of the Supreme Court to expedite the process of scrutiny of all pending cases as well as due diligence of the case daily instituted in this court to avoid repetition of such lapses,” it said, adding the constitutional bench committee had fixed the cases for hearing on Jan. 27.
The press release noted the regular bench of Justices Mansoor Ali Shah and Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi had heard contempt proceedings initiated against the additional registrar and been informed by Registrar Muhammad Salim Khan that the fixation of cases was the result of a mistake that was being examined. He also contended that the de-listing of the cases before this bench was not based on the malicious intent of the additional registrar but was rather a bona fide act taken in compliance with the direction of the regular committee.
“The Supreme Court issued the removal order of the Additional Registrar (Judicial) and the Chief Justice of Pakistan directed the registrar to dedicate more resources for early completion of the scrutiny of the pending cases in order to avoid inconvenience to the litigants and legal community,” it added.