Pakistan\u2019s Supreme Court has issued a detailed written judgment clarifying the jurisdictional boundaries between the Supreme Court and the Federal Constitutional Court following the 27th Constitutional Amendment, stating that decisions of the Constitutional Court on legal principles will be binding on other courts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ruling was delivered by a two-member bench headed by Chief Justice Yahya Afridi, addressing key questions regarding the relationship, authority, and functional scope of the two top judicial forums.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In its decision, the Supreme Court emphasized that both the Supreme Court and the Federal Constitutional Court are co-equal institutions<\/strong>, and neither is subordinate to the other. The court clarified that Article 189 of the Constitution, which deals with the binding nature of Supreme Court judgments, does not imply hierarchical superiority of one court over another in this context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, the judgment made it clear that legal principles laid down by the Federal Constitutional Court will carry binding authority for other courts<\/strong>, reinforcing its role as the primary forum for constitutional interpretation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The court also addressed procedural complexities arising from cases involving both constitutional and non-constitutional matters. It warned that combining such cases into a single proceeding could create legal confusion and constitutional complications. To avoid this, the court directed that joint (clubbed) cases be separated<\/strong>, with constitutional matters referred to the Federal Constitutional Court and regular civil or criminal matters retained by the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To prevent conflicting judgments, the ruling introduced the principle of \u201cjudicial comity\u201d (mutual respect between courts)<\/strong>. Both courts are expected to respect each other\u2019s jurisdiction and avoid overlapping decisions that could undermine legal clarity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The judgment further clarified appellate jurisdiction under Article 199. It stated that appeals arising from constitutional petitions filed in High Courts will now be heard by the Federal Constitutional Court<\/strong>, while regular civil and other non-constitutional appeals will continue to fall under the Supreme Court\u2019s jurisdiction<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Following the 27th Amendment, the Federal Constitutional Court has been granted exclusive jurisdiction over constitutional matters<\/strong>, marking a significant shift in Pakistan\u2019s judicial structure. Appeals against High Court decisions of a constitutional nature will be treated as transferred to the Constitutional Court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the same time, the ruling outlined certain exceptions. Cases related to tenancy and specific family matters will not fall under the jurisdiction of the Federal Constitutional Court<\/strong>, indicating limits to its authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Supreme Court also ordered the de-clubbing of cases<\/strong> related to a joint judgment of the Peshawar High Court, directing that civil appeals should continue to be heard by the Supreme Court, while constitutional appeals be transferred to the Constitutional Court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the issue of contempt of court, the judgment reaffirmed that each court retains the authority to hear contempt cases related to violations of its own orders<\/strong>. This means that contempt proceedings for violation of Supreme Court orders will remain within the Supreme Court, while other courts will handle contempt related to their respective rulings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The court highlighted that the power of contempt is directly linked to maintaining the authority, dignity, and effective functioning of the judiciary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This landmark ruling provides much-needed clarity on the post-amendment judicial framework, aiming to streamline case management, reduce jurisdictional overlap, and strengthen constitutional adjudication in Pakistan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Pakistan\u2019s Supreme Court has issued a detailed written judgment clarifying the jurisdictional boundaries between the Supreme Court and the Federal Constitutional Court following the 27th Constitutional Amendment, stating that decisions of the Constitutional Court on legal principles will be binding on other courts. The ruling was delivered by a two-member bench headed by Chief Justice […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15842,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"no","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_3859443944190656_828796993651875":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[{"account":"facebook_3859443944190656_828796993651875","service":"facebook","timestamp":1778054425,"status":"success"}],"rop_publish_now_status":"done","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-15841","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pakistan"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15841"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15841\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15843,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15841\/revisions\/15843"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}