Landmark cases decided by SC on Fridays

LAHORE: Due to be decided on Friday (today), the Panama Case will be among some extremely important cases that were also adjudicated by the Supreme Court of Pakistan on this fifth day of the week, research conducted by the “Jang Group and Geo Network” reveals.

Prior to the Panama Case, the following historic cases were also decided by the Apex Pakistani court on Fridays: — The Provisional Constitutional Order Judges case (also known as the PCO Judges case) was decided by the Supreme Court of Pakistan on July 31, 2009 (Friday).

The Supreme Court of Pakistan had declared all the steps taken on November 3, 2007 by the then President Pervez Musharraf as illegal and unconstitutional under the Article 279 of the Constitutional. General Musharraf had proclaimed Emergency in the country on November 3, 2007.

The Supreme Court also declared the steps taken in declaring the state of emergency to be null and void, and specifically stated that the removal of judges was unconstitutional and illegal.

This included the removal from office of the Chaudhry and other justices. The appointment of Justice Dogar and of all justices between November 3,2007 and March 24, 2008 was deemed unconstitutional. Musharraf's increase to the number of justices, accomplished through a finance bill, was declared unconstitutional, and the number of justices was set at 17.

The verdict did not change the legality of the new government, nor that of the presidential oath taken by Asif Zardari. The verdict also referred the issue of the Provisional Constitutional Order judges to the Supreme Judicial Council.

On July 20, 2007 (Friday), the 13-member bench of the Supreme Court had set aside the Presidential reference against the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, and declared invalid the Presidential action sending the Chief Justice on forced leave. The Chief Justice, who was deposed on March 9, 2007 by the then Pakistani head of state General Musharraf, was reinstated in office as a result of this decision.

By majority of 10 to 3 (with Justice Faqir Muhammad Khokhar, Justice Javed Buttar and Justice Saiyed Saeed Ashhad dissenting), the Constitution Original Petition No.21 of 2007 filed by Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, the Chief Justice of Pakistan, was hence set aside by the learned court.

On September 28, 2007 (Friday), the Supreme Court had allowed the then President Pervez Musharraf to contest the Presidential election in uniform. The court had finished hearing opposition petitions that said Musharraf, a key US ally who led a coup eight years ago in October 1999, was ineligible to contest the Presidential election on October 6, 2007 while he was still serving as Army chief.

Musharraf had been at loggerheads with the Supreme Court since his botched attempt in March 2007 to remove the country's chief justice, a move that had sparked mass protests and sent the President's popularity plummeting.