ISLAMABAD, May 20: The Supreme Court has cautioned the high courts to comment with care on judgments of the apex court to avoid possibility of suo motu action by the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) or contempt proceedings against them. A three-member bench comprising Chief Justice Nazim Hussain Siddiqui, Justice Javed Iqbal and Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar ruled that the apex court’s declaration on some principles of law was binding and could not be ignored even by the high courts, which have no option but to follow these without hesitation.

These observations were the culmination of a judgment in which three appeals against the Lahore High Court (LHC) order had been accepted after setting aside the high court’s decision of transferring a terrorism case from Anti-Terrorism Court Faisalabad to Sessions Judge Faisalabad. The case relates to an incident in which nine persons killed four people and robbed an open bazaar in the city of Rs20 million.

Authored by Justice Javed Iqbal, a 37-page order available with Dawn, directed the special court to immediately commence trial, which earlier had examined 19 witnesses by the time the case was shifted to the sessions judge.

The high court while deciding the matter, the judge noted, used derogatory and contemptuous language in some paragraphs of its order which, he said, could not be ignored lightly. The high courts are directed that care and caution be observed while offering comments on any judgment delivered by the apex court to avoid possibility of a suo motu action by the SJC and initiation of contempt proceedings.

The ultimate responsibility of interpreting laws is with the Supreme Court and any decision regarding a question of law is binding on all other courts in Pakistan, Justice Iqbal observed.