SC issues detailed Hasba Bill ruling
By Uzma Zafar

ISLAMABAD—The Supreme Court released Wednesday a 106-page detailed judgement on the NWFP Hasba Bill which it has declared ultra vires of the Constitution.
A nine-member Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had passed a short order on August 4 after hearing a presidential reference on the Bill.
The President had filed the reference under Article 186 of the Constitution seeking advisory opinion regarding the constitutionality of the Bill.
Several sections and clauses of the Bill passed by the provincial assembly in July have been declared violative of the Constitution and the court has also said that the NWFP Governor may not give assent to the bill in its present form.
The bench that heard the reference comprised Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Javed Iqbal, Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan, Justice Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi, Justice Faqir Muhammad Khokhar, Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, Justice M. Javed Buttar and Justice Saiyed Saeed Ashhad.
According to the detailed judgment written by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, the Court “is of the unanimous opinion that Section 10 (b) (c) (d), 12 (1) (a) (b) & (c), Section 23 (1), (2), (3), (5), (6), (7), (12), (14) & (27), Section 25 (1) & (2) & Section 28 of the Hasba Bill, 2005, passed by the Provincial Assembly of NWFP, are ultra vires of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973”. The verdict says: “The above referred Sections of the Hasba Bill are violative of Articles 2A, 4, 9, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, and 25 as well as 175 of the Constitution, being vague, over-broad, unreasonable, based on excessive delegation of jurisdiction, denying the rights of access to justice to the citizens and attempting to set up a parallel judicial system.
“Therefore, the Governor of the Province of NWFP may not assent to the Hasba Bill in its present form”. Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan, has written a five-page additional note regarding definition of religious scholar, which has been attached with the detailed judgment. The judgement said it is equally important to note that once some of the Sections of a Bill have been declared unconstitutional, it would not mean that leftover Sections of the Bill have been declared in accordance with the Constitution. Their constitutionality remains open to be questioned, which can be upheld or struck down as or when challenged before a competent forum, it said.