Federal Constitutional Court rules issued

Federal Constitutional Court rules issued

ISLAMABAD: The rules of the Federal Constitutional Court have been made public, setting out procedures for contempt of court proceedings and review petitions, including financial safeguards against frivolous or malicious litigation.

Under the newly issued rules, the Federal Constitutional Court can initiate contempt of court proceedings on its own initiative. The court may also take up contempt proceedings when any individual files an application seeking action against a person for alleged contempt.

The rules also establish measures against lawyers who file review petitions with mala fide intentions. A person seeking a review of a court decision must deposit Rs50,000 as security before filing the petition.

The court may forfeit the security amount if it dismisses the review petition or determines that the application lacks a proper legal basis. The provision aims to discourage the filing of review petitions merely to delay proceedings or misuse the judicial process.

According to the rules, the court will, as far as possible, assign a review petition to the same bench that issued the original decision. If one or more judges from the original bench are unavailable, the court will constitute a bench from the judges who remain available from that original bench.

The rules also place a limit on repeated review proceedings. A party cannot file another review petition against an order passed on a review petition. The court registry will not accept such a subsequent review application for registration.

The newly notified framework therefore sets specific procedures for contempt proceedings and review petitions while seeking to prevent repeated, vexatious or baseless litigation before the Federal Constitutional Court.