Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Wednesday filed two separate review petitions in the Supreme Court against its July 12 ruling in the NRO implementation case and annulment of the Contempt of Court Act 2012, SAMAA reports.

In its ruling of July 12 the apex court had ordered Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf to write letter to the Swiss authorities for reopening graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.

On August 3, declaring it “unconstitutional”, the court thought its ruling struck down new Contempt of Court Act 2012 that sought to exempt members of the Parliament from contempt of court trials. The government on Wednesday challenged this verdict as counsel of the federation Abdul Shakoor Paracha filed a review petition in the Supreme Court.

In the petition, the counsel stated that the Parliament is fully authorized for legislation, and that the petitions heard by SC against the COCA 2012 were non-maintainable.

Earlier, in another petition filed by the Attorney General of Pakistan, the government pleaded the court to review its July 12 order.

The AG stated that the order to the Prime Minister for writing to Swiss authorities was not viable and contradictory to the Constitutional obligation under which the PM required advice and approval from his cabinet in accordance with Article 90 of the Constitution.

He said the Federation was responsible to enforce the court orders in National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) implementation case. However, the seven-member bench solely put the responsibility on the Prime Minister and changed full court’s decision for which the bench was not entitled.

It was stated by the AG that the option used against former prime minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani could not be exercised again.
 
The AG stated that the order to write to Swiss authorities was also against Article 48 of the Constitutions and the PM can’t act in this regard.

Through its petition, the government also pleaded to the court to withdraw its June 27 decision under which PM Raja Pervez Ashraf was asked to write to the Swiss authorities.

The PPP-led government’s decision came when the Supreme Court summoned PM Raja Pervez Ashraf on August 27 over his failure to abide by court’s order for reopening Swiss cases against the president. -- SAMAA