High courts enjoy no powers to take suo moto notice: Supreme Court

ISLAMABAD, Jan 31 (SABAH): The Supreme Court of Pakistan ruled on Tuesday that the High Courts of the country could not exercise the power of taking suo moto notices.

A bench, headed by Justice Ijazul Ahsan, issued the ruling while hearing a petition against the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) order to the provincial government for establishing a committee to determine the prices of livestock and poultry products.

The apex court annulled the PHC’s verdict issued in the suo moto case, commenting that only the Supreme Court has an authority to take suo moto notice under the Article 184/3 of the Constitution.

In his eight-page verdict, Justice Ijazul Ahsan said the high courts were allowed to hear cases related to prices of goods. He observed that the PHC exercised the power of suo moto notice more than once as earlier it had imposed ban on the export of poultry products.

“The authority to import and export goods is not of the court but with the administration only,” it stated, adding: “The high court not only took suo moto notice but also interfered in the administrative affairs.”

In September last, the top court set aside the PHC’s order to ban the export of poultry products. A two-member bench, comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Syed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, issued the ruling on the appeals of M/s Sadiq Poultry (Pvt) Ltd against the PHC’s order.