ISLAMABAD - Supreme Court of Pakistan’s Senior Puisne Judge, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Saturday warned that there could be no possibility of the apex court’s orders going unimplemented as, he said, such a scenario would amount to a constitutional violation.
“The executive has no choice but to comply with court orders,” he said while addressing a conference in connection with minority rights. The remarks came a day after he similarly stressed that the top court’s orders were not merely recommendations or advisories, but legal mandates which must be followed.
These observations by the second senior most SC judge carry significant importance, especially against the backdrop of a recent legislation by Parliament aimed at circumventing the top court’s July 12 verdict which allowed reserved seats in the national and the provincial assemblies to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). The ruling coalition had strongly criticised the verdict.
Justice Shah said: “It is not possible that a Supreme Court judgement is left unimplemented … let us make this clear that this can never happen that a Supreme Court judgement is not implemented. This cannot happen. It would be a constitutional violation if this was even thought about.”
“Executive institutions have to understand that they have no choice but to comply with the Supreme Court order. I’m not saying this but the Constitution says so… the Supreme Court draws this authority from the Constitution, not any other document.” “No one has the choice to say this is not right or [it is] wrong,” he added.
Justice Shah said the Constitution enshrined that judgements of a court should be implemented. “This is the way. Either change the structure and make something else but according to the Constitution and its structure as it is, the position is the same.’
Justice Mansoor made it clear that, “Any verdict cannot be disregarded or delayed otherwise you will uproot the entire legal system, and you will upset the balance of the Constitution if you set out on this track that judgements should not be implemented. This is not possible.” He said such an action would be against the separation of powers of state organs and also disbalance it. “Separation of powers is a core component of democracy and it should not be disturbed.”
He said implementing court orders was not a “courtesy” or a “burden” but was a “responsibility and constitutional obligation that you have to follow”. He remarked that there was a “delicate equilibrium” in the Constitution between state organs which should be honoured, adding “It is our obligation to maintain this balance and there should be no executive overreach of any kind. No one has the choice or prerogative to second guess a judgement if it is right or wrong”. “The prerogative is of the Supreme Court and once it makes an order, it has to be implemented. That is the system of this country and the Constitution of this country. If you want to make a new system then first do so and then we will talk about it.” He said that implementing court verdicts is a constitutional duty and warned it has severe consequences in case of non-implementation.
On July 12, in a landmark verdict, a 13-judge full bench of the Supreme Court had declared that the opposition PTI was eligible to get reserved seats for women and non-Muslims in the national and provincial assemblies, dealing a major setback to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led ruling coalition.
The verdict potentially made the PTI single largest party in both houses of the Parliament. The PML-N and PPP had strongly criticised the verdict and filed review petitions against it. The Election Commission of Pakistan also filed a review petition in the apex court. The government also bulldozed a controversial election law on Tuesday, apparently aimed at circumventing the Supreme Court verdict on reserved seats and sapping the expected strength of PTI in Parliament. Interestingly, the PTI has also challenged the law in the top court.