The Supreme Court on Wednesday made it unequivocally clear that the mere filing of an appeal or review petition does not suspend the enforcement of a judicial decision.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Yahya Afridi issued a judgment in a case involving the Chief Land Commissioner Punjab and the Auqaf Department Bahawalpur.
The case pertained to a long-pending matter based on a decade-old verdict of the Lahore High Court, which had directed revenue authorities to revisit the case under relevant legal provisions.
The judgment authored by Chief Justice Afridi observed that despite clear directions from the high court, the Deputy Land Commissioner Bahawalpur failed to take any steps to implement the decision.
During the proceedings, the Additional Advocate General candidly admitted before the court that no stay order had been obtained against the LHC ruling.
“The admission confirms that there was no legal bar to implementing the court’s order,” the apex court stated, adding that such disregard for judicial instructions was indicative of "systemic administrative negligence rather than isolated oversight."
The court expressed concern over a recurring pattern in which remanded cases are routinely neglected or delayed indefinitely, warning that such conduct undermines the justice system.
“Filing of an appeal, in itself, does not nullify the effect of a court’s ruling unless a formal stay order is granted,” the judgment noted. “Non-compliance in the absence of such relief is an alarming sign of a deteriorating administrative culture.”
Terming the trend “unacceptable,” the court observed that judgments remanded by superior courts must be implemented “sincerely, expeditiously, and in letter and spirit.”
In its concluding directions, the Supreme Court instructed the Board of Revenue Punjab to develop comprehensive policy guidelines to ensure timely implementation of judicial decisions.
The court ordered that a report detailing compliance measures be submitted to the Registrar of the Supreme Court within three months.
