Overview
- The court issued a written judgment partly allowing Razia Aslam’s chamber appeal and overturned the registrar’s February 14 return of her petition, ruling the registrar cannot declare petitions inadmissible.
- Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi’s order says registrars may only check filing form, compliance with the Federal Constitutional Court Rules (2025), limitation and other codified defects and may not decide legal merits.
- The court held that determining whether a petition is maintainable or raises a question of public importance under Article 175E(3) requires judicial interpretation and therefore belongs to the bench, not an administrative officer.
- The judgment narrows the meaning of “scandalous” to defects of presentation and form and directs the court to deter frivolous or vexatious filings through court measures such as costs rather than administrative returns.
- The decision is likely to change registrar practice and ease administrative gatekeeping, which could make access to the court’s extraordinary jurisdiction clearer for petitioners but may increase the court’s initial caseload.