ISLAMABAD: The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) has held that only a competent court can decide the maintainability of a petition and the Registrar’s Office has no authority to declare a constitutional petition inadmissible and return it.
The FCC in its decision on a chamber appeal relating to a case has laid down legal principles regarding the powers of the Registrar’s Office.
Justice Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi, while allowing the chamber appeal filed by petitioner Razia Aslam against the objections raised by the Registrar’s Office, clarified that the Registrar’s role is purely administrative.
The court held that the Registrar may raise objections only concerning compliance with procedural rules and regulations and may return a petition only if it has not been filed in accordance with the prescribed rules.
The court further observed that the Registrar’s Office has no authority under any circumstances to exercise judicial powers or determine the legal merits or maintainability of a petition.
The court further observed that the Constitution provides no scope for transferring judicial powers to an administrative officer. The court observed that delegating judicial authority to an administrative officer would be contrary to the constitutional principle of separation of powers.
The judgement also makes it clear that the Registrar’s Office cannot declare a constitutional petition frivolous or non-maintainable. Such determinations fall exclusively within the jurisdiction of the court.
It is pertinent to mention here that in the instant case, the Registrar’s Office had returned Razia Aslam’s constitutional petition on February 14 after raising an objection that it was not maintainable. She subsequently filed the present chamber appeal against that decision.
