ISLAMABAD: The government has yet to make up its mind to seek a review of the Dec 16 Supreme Court short order against the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO).
?I have no idea about the government?s plan to file a review petition against the apex court order as I have not so far been consulted,? Attorney-General Anwar Mansoor told media. He said it was the government that would take a decision about filing a review petition, and once it would do so it would inform him to act accordingly.
The attorney general said there was no bar on seeking review of any court order. Therefore, he said, it was not necessary that the government should have the detailed judgment before it.
Anwar Mansoor said if a review was filed against the short order, additional pleas could be submitted if necessitated by the points raised in the detailed decision. Under Article 188 of the Constitution, the Supreme Court shall have power, subject to the provisions of any Act of Parliament and of any rules made by the Supreme Court, to review any judgment pronounced or any order made by it.
According to the rules, a review can be filed within thirty days of the court decision. The review is always heard by the same bench that hands down the impugned ruling. Furthermore, the original judgment can?t be fundamentally changed in the review.
The thirty-day period is counted from the day the one seeking review of the original order gets its copy from the court, a constitutional lawyer said.
Unless there is a floating error in the previous judgment that the court also accepts during its reconsideration, the review can?t be helpful, he said and added in normal circumstances it was rare that a court would alter its previous verdict.
He said a review could not be a ?rehearing? of the case. He said no doubt the review could be filed even against the short order but in the absence of the detailed judgment it was not possible to point out errors in the ruling. ?The reasoning to be given for seeking review has to be based on the main decision. Errors and mistakes in the judgment have to be listed,? he said.
