Petition filed against amendments to debt laws
The plea also challenges the Fiscal Responsibility & Debt Limitation (FRDL) Act 2005, claiming it is unconstitutional.
Justice Shahid Karim directed the concerned parties to present their arguments on the matter, which questions alleged irregularities in the government's debt calculations and amendments to financial laws.
Petitioner Munir Ahmed contended that the federal government had altered the definition of "public debt" in violation of a Supreme Court ruling. The top court had previously ruled that such changes required approval from the federal cabinet and both houses of Parliament. However, the government reportedly bypassed this process and made significant modifications to the FRDL Act 2005 through the Finance Act 2017.
According to the petition, the amended debt calculation formula now excludes deposits held by provincial and federal governments within the banking system.
As a result, the reported national debt was understated by approximately Rs2 trillion, showing public debt at Rs18.9 trillion as of March 2017.
The petitioner further argued that these changes were not included in the original Finance Bill 2017, which was approved by the federal cabinet on May 26, 2017.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Express Tribune
8 minutes ago
- Express Tribune
LHC sets aside FIR order against Suleman Shehbaz
Chief Justice Aalia Neelum of the Lahore High Court (LHC) has set aside a district court's order directing the registration of a First Information Report (FIR) against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's son, Suleman Shehbaz, in a cheque dishonour case. The high court held that the lower court failed to properly examine the facts of the matter. Suleman Shehbaz had challenged the July 10 order issued by the district judge, which instructed police to register an FIR against him on charges of issuing a bounced cheque. During the LHC proceedings, Suleman's counsel contended that the district court's decision was not only contrary to law but also passed without a proper review of the factual background. The respondent's counsel alleged that Suleman's company had purchased 17 laptops and issued a cheque for Rs 600,000 in payment, which was later dishonoured. However, Suleman's counsel countered that no laptops were ever delivered to the company's office. He further argued that the cheques in question were stolen by company employees and wrongfully handed over to the respondent. An FIR had already been registered against those individuals, he added. 'The company has no connection with these cheques,' the counsel asserted. Chief justice also questioned the respondent's legal team for failing to specify the date of the alleged laptop purchase. She noted that no purchase receipts bore any official stamp either. After hearing arguments from both sides, chief justice ruled in favour of the petitioner and annulled the district court's order.
Business Recorder
6 hours ago
- Business Recorder
CCP successfully clears backlog of pending cases by over 40pc
ISLAMABAD: The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has successfully cleared backlog of pending cases by over 40 percent since assumption of charge of CCP Chairman by Dr Kabir Ahmed Sidhu in August 2023. The CCP has made significant progress in reducing its legal backlog and recovering penalties, marking a major turnaround in the enforcement of competition law. When the new management took charge in August 2023, the CCP faced 567 pending cases across different courts. Through early hearing applications and aggressive follow-up, 223 cases have since been decided, cutting the backlog by more than 40 percent. The biggest relief came in the Competition Appellate Tribunal (CAT), where 121 cases were decided out of 210, bringing down pendency by 58 percent. The Lahore High Court decided 39 cases, reducing backlog by 78 percent, while the Sindh High Court disposed of 40 cases, a 61 percent cut. The Islamabad High Court decided 13 cases, lowering pendency by 43 percent. At the Supreme Court, 11 cases were decided, and 171 cases challenging CCP's mandate have been clubbed for a single hearing. The resolution of cases has enabled the CCP to recover imposed penalties. In the past year alone, the Commission recovered PKR 360 million, surpassing the total PKR 201 million collected since its establishment in 2007. One of the landmark judgments was delivered by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in the Dalda Foods vs CCP case, which strengthened the CCP's enforcement capacity. The apex court unanimously upheld the Commission's statutory powers to gather information and conduct inquiries under Section 36 of the Competition Act, 2010. The Court ruled that companies are bound to comply with CCP directives and that the Commission is not required to provide detailed reasoning before launching an inquiry. Similarly, in a case on alleged cartelization in the poultry sector, the Lahore High Court upheld CCP's authority to pursue investigations into price-fixing. Justice Jawad Hassan stressed that show-cause notices cannot be prematurely challenged in High Courts and must first go through CCP's adjudication process, reaffirming the regulator's autonomy. A major breakthrough that helped the swift resolution of cases was the revival of the Competition Appellate Tribunal, after the appointment of Justice Sajjad Ali Shah as Chairman with members Dr Faiz Elahi Memon and Asim Akram. The tribunal has disposed of 121 cases, leaving only 89 pending, and delivered rulings that have both reduced penalties and clarified key points of law. Notable decisions by CAT include upholding fines on Reckitt Benckiser (Strepsils), PVMA, ICAP, and British Lyceum, while reducing penalties on PREMA Milk, Diamond Paints, 3N Lifemed, and Pakistan Steel Mills. In the high-profile Sugar Mills cartel case involving Rs 44 billion, the tribunal remanded the matter back to CCP, ruling that the Chair's casting vote was invalid. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
Business Recorder
6 hours ago
- Business Recorder
Justice delayed, reform deferred
EDITORIAL: The Chief Justice of Pakistan is right, of course. Timely and effective justice is not just a constitutional duty, it's a moral one. But acknowledging the imperative is one thing. However, delivering on it, especially in a system as chronically dysfunctional as ours, is another. This week's fifth 'interactive session' chaired by Chief Justice Yahya Afridi at the Supreme Court painted a picture of progress. Of the 89 reform initiatives identified under the judiciary's ongoing modernisation agenda, 26 are reportedly complete, 44 are in progress, and 14 are queued up. A commendable pace, if the numbers are accurate; and if they mean anything at all outside internal review meetings. The court claims these efforts have already reduced case pendency. That would be meaningful, if measurable. But for most Pakistanis waiting months, years, or even decades to get a hearing — let alone a judgment — this kind of bureaucratic bookkeeping does little to inspire confidence. We've heard versions of this script before. Reforms have been promised for decades. Automation, digitisation, efficiency; the vocabulary shifts, but the outcome never does. Cases continue to pile up. Litigants continue to die waiting. And the justice system remains a byword for delay, corruption, and elite capture. If anything, the Pakistani judiciary has become one of the most inefficient and compromised arms of the state. Lower courts are riddled with rent-seeking. High courts are overwhelmed by both incompetence and politicisation. And the Supreme Court itself — often the final refuge for those failed by every other institution — is only just beginning to acknowledge the scale of the breakdown. When Chief Justice Afridi expresses concern over slow categorisation of cases or lagging digitisation efforts, he is essentially admitting that even internal housekeeping remains a struggle. These are not grand constitutional challenges. They are operational basics. If the court can't process a case file in time, how will it ever process justice? What makes it worse is the gap between performance and perception. The judiciary has long been one of the most distrusted institutions in the country, and not without reason. Its top appointments have often served as instruments of power politics. Its lower ranks are widely seen as transactional. And its track record on serving the average citizen is abysmal. From land disputes to criminal appeals to family law, justice in Pakistan is routinely delayed, prohibitively expensive, and painfully opaque. Reform cannot be an internal conversation. It must be a public transformation. That's why the Supreme Court's language of 'interactive sessions' and 'review meetings' needs to be replaced with something more concrete. How many cases have actually been decided faster? How many courtrooms are functioning more efficiently today than a year ago? How many litigants have benefited from the 'Case Management System'? What percentage of backlog has been cleared — and not just shifted around? The judiciary cannot keep hiding behind process when what the country needs is outcome. It cannot speak in the language of moral responsibility while remaining structurally unaccountable. The fact that Pakistan still does not have a proper mechanism for judicial performance evaluation, or disciplinary oversight, says everything about how far we are from meaningful reform. Until judges at every level are answerable for delays, reversals, and mismanagement, the justice system will continue to fail those who need it most. So yes, timely justice is essential — and long overdue. But it will not come from power points or pledges. It will come from an overhaul in how the judiciary sees itself: not as an untouchable tier of the state, but as a public service; funded by taxpayers, designed for citizens, and judged by results. The Chief Justice has said the right things. Now the institution must do the hard things. Because until ordinary Pakistanis get justice they can see, feel, and afford, justice will remain a slogan, not a system. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
