Pendency of a case does not stay execution of court order: SC

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has ruled that the mere pendency of an appeal, revision or constitutional petition does not automatically stay the execution or implementation of a court order.

A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Yahya Afridi and comprising Justice Shakeel Ahmed and Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim, issued the judgement against an order dated 22.09.2015 passed by the Lahore High Court’s Bahawalpur Bench in writ petitions titled Chief Land Commissioner, Punjab/ Senior Member Board of Revenue, Punjab, Lahore, etc versus Administrator Auqaf Department, Bahawalpur, etc.

The court reiterated its recent clarification in Rashid Baig vs Muhammad Mansha (2024 SCMR 1385), stating: “The mere pendency of a petition before this court does not, by itself, operate as a stay of proceedings, which may only be lawfully restrained by an express injunctive order of the court.” This observation was part of a four-page judgement authored by Chief Justice Yahya Afridi.

The apex court held that administrative inaction based solely on pending proceedings—without any lawful restraint—is both unjustified and impermissible.

The case originated in 2010 from a land dispute in Bahawalpur. In 2015, the LHC (Bahawalpur Bench) remanded the matter to the Revenue Department with directions to re-decide it in accordance with the law. However, the court noted that even after 10 years, the deputy land commissioner of Bahawalpur had failed to take any decision.

The Supreme Court observed a 10-year delay in implementing the high court’s remand order, despite no stay order from any court. The revenue authorities had neglected to act on the high court’s instructions.

The Punjab advocate general conceded before the apex court that treating remand orders as optional is an unconstitutional practice.

The court declared that the pendency of an appeal or review petition does not halt the implementation of a decision, emphasizing that such delays amount to disrespecting court orders.

The court disposed of the petitions as infructuous but directed the Punjab Board of Revenue to finalise, circulate and strictly implement promised policy guidelines.

“A compliance report, along with an updated status of all pending remanded cases in the province, shall be submitted to the Registrar of this Court within three months of this order,” the judgement concluded.