ISLAMABAD: In its written ruling in the appeals in the accountability law changes case, the Supreme Court said on Saturday that imprisoned respondent PTI Chairman Imran Khan might be given the opportunity to represent himself if he so desired.
The former prime minister, who was being held in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, was also ordered to be given copies of the intra-court appeals by the jail’s superintendent.
“If he [Imran] wants to be represented [in the court], the jail superintendent should do the needful,” the injunction said.
On October 31, a larger bench presided over by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa heard the case. This bench included Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Athar Minallah, and Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi.
While hearing the first-ever two intra-court appeals against its majority ruling on September 15, which struck down the revisions to the country’s anti-graft statute, it stopped them from issuing the final orders.
Both the federal government and former SSGC managing director Zuhair Ahmed Siddiqui have filed intracourt appeals.
In the written ruling, the SC stated that until the next date of hearing, the accountability courts might proceed with the cases but would not publish the final judgments.
In order to await the comprehensive ruling on the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023, which is intended to limit the discretionary power of the top judge, the SC has postponed the hearing of the case.
According to the judgment, ‘when [the] interpretation of the constitutional provisions is involved, a bench of this court consisting not less than five judges must consider the case’ under Section 4 of the Practice and Procedure Act.
Saad Mumtaz Hashmi, who represented the federal government in the first intra-court appeal, argued that the majority of a three-judge bench of the SC, instead of five, decided that most provisions of the amendments were unconstitutional in a judgment dated September 15, 2023, in violation of the Act.
The judgment went on to indicate that senior lawyer Farooq H. Naek, who was representing Siddiqui in the second intra-court appeal, and Pakistan’s Attorney General (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan agreed with Hashmi’s argument.
It noted that the Third Amendment had been in effect for six hearings by the time the case against the alterations was heard (September 15), but that the resulting judgment had not addressed the amendment.
“It is stated that the Third Amendment had attended to matters as mentioned in [one of] these intra-court appeals, but the impugned judgment does not address the Third Amend[ment].” “The [September 15] sustained the question of how trials will proceed when proceedings before other (non-accountability) courts had taken place, and reference was also made to Sections 231 and 350 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 and Section 35 of the NAB [National Accountability Bureau] Ordinance.
The PTI leader argued that the changes to the National Accountability Ordinance made by the PML-N led government in June 2022 would allow public officials to get away with white-collar crimes without facing consequences.
The head of PTI used Article 184(3) of the constitution to challenge the changes.