ISLAMABAD (The Thursday Times) — Pakistan’s Federal Constitutional Court has said Supreme Court judgments are not binding on it, though they can carry “persuasive value”, again setting out its standing in a court system reshaped by last year’s 27th Amendment.
The eight-page judgment was written by Justice Aamer Farooq, who led a three-member bench hearing a review petition. It said the court may follow Supreme Court case law where it appears consistent with the law and the Constitution. The same applies to the Supreme Court’s rulings on leave to appeal against high court decisions under Article 199, which the bench said do not bind it, although it can draw on them.
That power sat with the Supreme Court under Article 185(3) until the 27th Amendment created the FCC in 2025 and gave it those appeals under Article 175F(1)(c).
The bench also warned lawyers and litigants against treating a review as a second chance to argue a case. Review is limited to errors apparent on the face of the record or mistakes that would lead to a miscarriage of justice, it said, and filing one as a matter of course is deprecated.
It reminded them of the court’s rules: an application must carry a reasoned certificate that a review is justified and a security deposit of Rs50,000, which can be forfeited. A frivolous or vexatious application can bring costs of at least Rs25,000, and lawyers can face disciplinary proceedings. The court may also decide reviews without an oral hearing.
The ruling comes days after FCC Chief Justice Aminuddin Khan criticised a Supreme Court bench led by Justice Munib Akhtar over “judicial discipline” for revisiting a settled case.
