The Supreme Court (SC) has said that for a party to file a review petition, it must point out a mistake in the verdict that is clearly visible to all. In an important decision on the scope of a review plea released on Tuesday, a three-member bench of the SC, comprising Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Shahid Bilal, said that the plea could only be filed under Article 188 and the rules.

It further said that merely because a party was not satisfied with the original decision, it could not file a review petition. “Similarly, the party cannot again raise a point which has been rejected in the original decision,” the bench said, adding, “Likewise, the argument that another point of view could also have been incorporated in the verdict could not become the basis of filing the plea either.” 

The SC was of the view that the practice of filing baseless and concocted petitions must be discouraged. The bench noted with concern that presently 2.2 million cases were pending in different courts in the country. “Only in the apex court, over 56,000 cases are pending; a major portion of which is that of review petitions.”

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)