Mere dissatisfaction of one party cannot be grounds for review plea: SC

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday stressed the need to identify clear errors on the face of the original judgment while seeking its revision, holding that mere dissatisfaction by one party cannot be grounds for review.

A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and comprising Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan heard the review petitions filed by the District Education Officer (Female) and the Khyber Pukhtunkhwa Education Department.

“It is mandatory to point out a clear error in the decision for a review and mere dissatisfaction by one party cannot be grounds for review,” stated a nine-page judgment authored by Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah.

The court dismissed the review petitions with costs of Rs. 100,000 for being frivolous and for having squandered the valuable time of the court.

The court directed that the costs be deposited within 15 days with any charitable institution recognised under the Thirteenth Schedule to the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001.

The court further directed that proof of such deposit must be placed on the record of the case, adding that in the event of non-compliance, the office shall place the matter before the appropriate bench for further orders.

The court held that this petition is barred by limitation, having been filed with a delay of 13 days. The application for condonation of delay fails to disclose any sufficient cause warranting condonation and is, therefore, dismissed”, the court ruled, adding that even otherwise, the petition seeks to agitate the same issue which has already been conclusively adjudicated in Director Education Officer (Female) Charsadda and others u. Sonrad Begum and others [2023 SCMR 217).

“We see no justification to depart from the earlier view taken by this court. Accordingly, this petition is dismissed both on the ground of limitation and on merits”, the court held.

The court noted that there are currently 2.2 million pending cases in Pakistan and there are more than 56,000 pending cases in the Supreme Court, adding that a large portion of these are review petitions. The review was filed against the decision dated September29, 2022.

In his additional note, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar held that the court has rightly dismissed the review petition with costs. The judge noted that at present, it has become a custom or routine practice to file review applications unwarily and injudiciously, based on certificates issued by advocates that merely imitate the grounds already urged and decided in the main petition or appeal, without specifying any genuine error in the judgment or order which merits its reversal.