The recent Supreme Court judgment, delivered by a three-member bench headed by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, stands among the most consequential constitutional pronouncements rendered since the 26th and 27th Constitutional Amendments. By affirming Parliament's decision to vest second appellate jurisdiction under the newly inserted Section 32A of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999 in the Federal Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court has resolved a significant jurisdictional controversy while giving meaningful effect to Pakistan's evolving constitutional architecture. The judgment transcends the confines of accountability law.
It reaffirms the supremacy of the Constitution, the legislative competence of Parliament, the doctrine of separation of powers, judicial restraint and the rule of law. Above all, it reinforces the cardinal constitutional principle that judicial authority emanates exclusively from the Constitution and legislation enacted thereunder, rather than from historical practice, institutional preference or procedural convenience. The controversy arose following the enactment of the National Accountability (Amendment) Act, 2025, through which Parliament inserted Section 32A into the National Accountability Ordinance with effect from January 2026.
The provision expressly stipulates that judgments delivered by the High Courts under Section 32 shall be appealable before the Federal Constitutional Court. Notwithstanding the statutory amendment, uncertainty persisted regarding whether second appeals should continue to lie before the Supreme Court. The present judgment has conclusively settled that question.
Reaffirming a well-established principle of constitutional jurisprudence, the Court held that the right of appeal is not an inherent constitutional entitlement but a statutory right, the creation, regulation, expansion, restriction or transfer of which falls within Parliament's legislative domain unless expressly limited by the Constitution. Exercising its legislative competence under Article 142, read with Article 191A establishing the Federal Constitutional Court, Parliament validly designated that Court as the appellate forum for second appeals arising under the National Accountability Ordinance. The practical consequences of the judgment are both immediate and far-reaching.
All second appeals under the National Accountability Ordinance…
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