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ISLAMABAD, Feb 07 (APP):The Supreme Court has removed objections of the Registrar’s Office on the petition of founder PTI against amendments in the Official Secret Act and the Army Act and has directed the Office to allot a number to the petition for fixation before the Court.
The seven-member Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, headed by Justice Amin ud Din Khan and comprising Justice Jamal Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Musarrat Hilali, Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Justice Shahid Bilal Hasan, was hearing the case.
The Court inquired Counsel for Founder PTI that why he did not approach the High Court first.
‘It is a matter of great public interest. The amendments affect fundamental rights of the people’, responded Advocate Shoaib Shaheen, counsel for founder PTI.
Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar remarked that the Supreme Court now can’t hear petitions against Article 184/3. Article 199 will become ineffective if we continue to allow direct petitions, bypassing the High Courts.
‘But this should be decided by the Court and not by the Registrar Office that what petitions the Court would admit and what are to be sent to a High Court’, responded Shoaib Shaheen.
The Court asked the counsel to prepare arguments on the permissibility of the petition and adjourned the hearing for a date to be fixed later.
It may be worth mentioning that the gazette notification of amendments in the Army Act and the Official Secret Act was issued in August 2023 but the then President Arif Alvi claimed that he did not sign the acts.