ISLAMABAD – The Federal Constitutional Court has issued a significant ruling against the practice of delaying judgment announcements for months and the alleged leakage of reserved decisions before their official pronouncement.
In a seven-page detailed judgment authored by Justice Aamer Farooq, the court declared that failing to announce a reserved verdict within the stipulated time frame is a violation of the law. Copies of the judgment have been sent to all High Courts for implementation.
According to the ruling, High Courts are bound to announce reserved decisions within 90 days. Any judgment delivered after this period may be declared void on that basis alone.
The court further observed that rules of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and High Courts carry the force of law, and violations of these rules carry consequences. It noted that even intentional or unintentional leaks of judgments or their contents before announcement are against judicial rules, and all judges and court staff are strictly bound to comply.
The bench head may order a fresh hearing if a decision or its contents are leaked prematurely. A case may be reheard by the same or a different bench that originally reserved the judgment.
The ruling added that in High Courts, such matters should be referred to the Chief Justice, while in the Supreme Court they should be sent to the judges’ committee. It emphasized that timely justice is essential despite the burden of pending cases, noting that the trend of reserving judgments has increased in recent times.
The court observed that parties often face long waits for justice while decisions remain reserved, which may occur due to complex legal questions or lack of consensus among judges.
In the present case, the High Court had announced a reserved judgment after a delay of 10 months.
The court disposed of the appeal filed by the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation and struck down certain observations made by the Sindh High Court.
It is worth noting that the Shipping Corporation had challenged a High Court ruling related to pension payments.
