Supreme Court senior puisne judge Justice Mansoor Ali Shah on Saturday stressed that there could be no possibility of the top court’s orders going unimplemented as such a scenario would amount to a constitutional violation and the executive had no choice but to comply with court orders.
The remarks came a day after he similarly emphasised that the apex court’s orders were not merely recommendations or advisories, but legal mandates which must be followed. Legal observers are attaching great significance to these observations, particularly against the backdrop of recent legislation by Parliament aimed at circumventing the Supreme Court’s July 12 verdict in the reserved seats case. Parties in the ruling coalition had strongly criticised the verdict.
Addressing a conference regarding minority rights today, Justice Shah said: “It is not possible that a Supreme Court judgement is left unimplemented … let us make this clear that this can never happen that a Supreme Court judgement is not implemented. This cannot happen. It would be a constitutional violation if this was [even] thought about.
“Executive institutions have to recognise that they have no choice but to comply with the orders of the Supreme Court. I’m not saying this but the Constitution it [since this] is its structure and the Supreme Court draws this authority from the Constitution, not any other document.”
He said no one had the “choice to say ‘this is not right or [it is] wrong’”.
Justice Shah said the Constitution enshrined that there were judgements of a court and they should be implemented.
“This is the way. Either change the structure and make something else but the Constitution as it is and its structure, according to them the position is this.
“Any verdict cannot be disregarded or delayed otherwise you will uproot the entire legal system and you will upset the balance of the Constitution if you set out on this track that judgements should not be implemented. This is not possible.”
