A few months back, Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Umar Ata Bandial famously said that the judges are not economists; therefore, they would not interfere in the economic affairs as the court did not have the required expertise at its command.
In other words, the chief justice made it clear to all and sundry that judges are no expert to decide the suitability of economic policies.
The CJP, along with two other judges, was hearing a petition filed by Jamaat-e-Isalmi through which the party had urged the apex court to declare the privatisation of Karachi Electric Supply Company as unlawful.
The apex court, in my view, deserves commendation for showing such approach to matters that are not its province per se.
It is fully mindful of the devastation the then apex court led by Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry had wrought on the country’s economy and its economic prospects through its highly controversial decisions, which were clearly shorn of appreciation of economic principles, on Pakistan Steel Mills, Reko Diq mining project and sugar prices.
That the nation is still paying the cost of colossally flawed apex court decisions on Pakistan Steel Mills and Reko Diq project is a fact. Having said that, it is important to note that the judiciary, like executive and legislature, can still play a role in shaping up country’s economic aspirations but its approach to economic matters must reflect the larger political economy. Needless to say, there’s a vast difference between economics and political economy.
Last but not least, judicial constraint requires the honourable judges that they can or should decide to a certain extent the substance of official decisions on economy or economic policy. And what actually constitutes that “certain extent” has to be determined by the judiciary itself, not by executive or legislature.
Hina Siddiqui (Karachi)
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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