Supreme Court describes jurisdictions of SC and Constitutional Court

ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court and the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) are not bound to each other, they are equal courts, a division bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Yahya Afridi said in a detailed verdict on jurisdiction.

The key verdict interpreting the two courts’ jurisdictions said that the FCC’s decisions will be implementable over other courts.

“Article 189 doesn’t offer subordination of the one court to other,” the Supreme Court describes. “The appeals of the constitutional petitions filed under Article 189 will be heard by the constitutional court,” the bench said in its verdict.

The SC bench said that clubbed constitutional and regular cases should be sent to separate forums for hearing. “The constitutional cases will be heard by the constitutional court and the regular cases will be heard by the supreme court, the decision read.

“To avoid contradictory verdicts, the principle of “judicial respect” will be followed, and both courts will decide cases while respecting each other’s jurisdictions,” according to the verdict.

The FCC will hear the appeals filed under the Article 199, while general civil and regular appeals will remain with the supreme court, the decision read.

“The Federal Constitutional Court has a specific constitutional jurisdiction after the 27th Constitutional Amendment.

The court ordered to de-club relevant cases in a joint verdict given by the Peshawar High Court. “The civil appeals will remain under the hearing of the supreme court while the constitutional petitions’ appeals will be heard by the constitutional court”.

“The contempt of court cases will be heard by the concerned court whose orders have been violated,” the verdict read.