Courts have no power to issue royal orders: CJP

SC annuls LHC order in illegal appointments case

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Anwar Zaheer Jamali Tuesday said courts had no power to issue royal orders rather their task was to take decisions on merit.

He passed these remarks while hearing a petition filed by an employee of the Wild Life Department against the judgment of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on illegal appointments. A three-member bench, led by the CJP, heard the case in connection with the alleged illegal appointments in the Wild Life Department, Punjab.

Justice Jamali said the era of issuing royal orders had come to an end and now the courts would act in accordance with the Constitution and law.  He said judges had no power to issue royal orders. The counsel for the petitioner, Abdul Latif, told the court that his client was on merit but the Wild Life Dept made illegal appointments.

He said his client moved to the LHC which passed a judgment in his favour but the provincial department adopted the stance that his client would be appointed to some other vacant post after which the LHC bench disposed of the case.

Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali questioned how a court could pass such a judgment and asked whether it was a court order or a royal order.  He said the court should have given relief to the petitioner by removing his objections. 

Justice Ejazul Hassan remarked that the LHC should have returned the instant case to the department with orders to dispose it of on merit. Later the Supreme Court declared the LHC order as null and void and returned the case to the court with orders to decide the case on merit within three months.