Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has remarked that any case whose
verdict has been passed cannot be revised by the apex court, adding
that all stages of trial, appeal and review have been completed in ZAB
reference case.
An 11-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice
Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry heard presidential reference for revisiting
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto death sentence case on Tuesday.
Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said that court can only deliver its proposition in the case, instead revisiting it.
The Chief Justice asked Babar Awan to refer any position where a
closed case has been reopened, adding that appeal and review in this
case have already been completed.
Dr Awan submitted two relevant references, likewise, ZAB death
sentence case, adding that there is no such example in which case had
been reopened on presidential reference but there are many case which
were sent to the parliament by the court.
Babar said that this wrong decision has been given by the court and court should correct its mistake.
In reply, Chief Justice clarified that only aggrieved can seek case reopening not the constitutional authority (President).
Federation’s Lawyer Babar Awan said that a decision should be
redressed lawfully and morally if it is prejudiced against a person. The
Chief Justice replied that more than 300 people’s mercy appeals are
pending before the president, adding that if SC reopens Bhutto case all
applications would come to the court for reopening the case.
Chief Justice said that the consequences of the reopening should also
kept in mind, adding that it is impossible to review every single one
case of those cases.
The Chief Justice said that the court’s liability is limited in the
case and it can only give its opinion, adding that the court only wants
to see whether a case can be reopened through a reference or not.
After the completion of arguments by federation counsel Attorney
General argued the case and said that there is no example of such case
that was reopened on presidential reference.
Advocate General Punjab Muhammad Hanif Khatana also argued that a case can neither be reopened nor reviewed through references.
The case has been adjourned till today (Wednesday).
The case has been adjourned till today (Wednesday).
Last year, President Asif Ali Zardari revived the presidential
reference to reopen the case relating to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s death.
The government had asked the Supreme Court to take up the case at the
earliest opportunity. SANA
