Constitution Petition No. 8 & 9 of 2009 | |
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Court | Supreme Court of Pakistan |
Decided | 31 July 2009 |
Citations | (Supreme Court of Pakistan 31 July 2009), Text. |
Court membership | |
Judges sitting | Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry Javed Iqbal Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday Mian Shakirullah Jan Tassaduq Hussain Jillani Nasir-ul-Mulk Raja Fayyaz Ahmed Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmed Ghulam Rabbani Sarmad Jalal Osmany Muhammad Sair Ali Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui Jawwad S. Khawaja |
Case opinions | |
All steps taken in the 2007 Pakistani state of emergency are unconstitutional, going against the restraining order imposed by the Supreme Court immediately after the state of emergency was declared. |
The Provisional Constitutional Order Judges case (shortened to PCO Judges case) refers to cases heard and decided by the Pakistan Supreme Court pertaining to the High Court and Supreme Court judges who took their oath of offices under the Provisional Constitutional Order in 2007. On 3 November 2007, then-President Pervez Musharraf declared a Provisional Constitutional Order, which declared a state of emergency and suspends the Constitution of Pakistan. Under this emergency law, all High court judges, including the Supreme Court justices, were asked to take oath under this Provisional Constitutional Order. Those who did not were placed under effective house arrest. A seven-member bench issued a restraining order on the same day, barring the government from implementing emergency rule and urging other government officials to not help do so.[1]
The Provisional Constitutional Order Judges case has been examining the constitutionality and legality of the steps taken by Musharraf in declaring a state of emergency, and considering contempt of court charges against justices who took oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order in violation of the restraining order.