The Supreme Court has issued a written decision in the case against NAB(National Accountability Bureau), a 58-page decision authored by ChiefJustice Pakistan Omar Ata Bandial. The decision includes a two-pagedissenting note from Justice Mansoor Ali Shah.
Justice Mansoor Ali Shah’s dissenting note states that he does not agreewith the majority decision, rejects the PTI Chairman’s request against NABaccountability, and emphasizes that the authority for legislating lies withthe parliament, which can amend or change its own laws. He argues that theissue in the case was not about illegal tampering but rather the supremacyof parliament. I was informed about the majority decision last night.
Justice Mansoor Ali Shah mentions that he is not currently providingdetailed reasons due to time constraints, but the case concerned thedivision of powers and parliamentary democracy. He questions how unelectedjudges of the Supreme Court can review the policy of elected members of theassembly and emphasizes that courts cannot review legislation withoutviolating fundamental constitutional rights.
In the dissenting note, it is argued that the majority decision is againstthe constitutional scheme as per the Constitution, the state exercises itspower and authority through elected representatives of the people, and amajority decision goes against the principles of the distribution of powers.
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Justice Mansoor Ali Shah concludes by stating that the authority ofparliament’s legislation cannot be questioned, and the majority decisiondid not examine what wrongdoing parliament had committed; instead, itsought to connect the accountability of assembly members to a violation offundamental rights
