Under the corrigendum, issued through Official Gazette, the right of appeal against CCP decision has been changed from Supreme Court to High Court. The CCP has requested the SC to give a decision whether the corrigendum has been rightly issued, and secondly, can the jurisdiction of the SC be changed with the High Court in the Competition Ordinance 2009 under the corrigendum issued through Official Gazette.
The CCP was of the view that such corrigendum could not be legally issued under the Constitution. As a number of appeals are pending before the SC, the apex court should guide the Commission about the legal status of the corrigendum. The commission has taken the plea that the jurisdiction of the SC could be enlarged by the Constitution, but it could not be reduced through such corrigendum.
The CCP further argued that the recent change has been made in the Competition Ordinance without any legal backing. The SC decision would help in finalisation of cases pending before the highest judicial fora, sources added. The application filed by CCP in the SC opined that the corrigendum is issued to correct the typographic errors but technical changes cannot be made under the head of corrigendum. Appeals were lying with the apex court by different sectors including sugar, banking, cement and LPG against the decisions made by the commission. The SC should guide the commission on this issue for speedy disposal of cases, sources added.
It is worth mentioning that the section 42 of the Competition Ordinance 2009 says, "Any person aggrieved by an order of the Commission comprising two or more members or of the Appellate Bench of the Commission may within sixty days of the communication of the order, prefer appeal to the Supreme Court." The corrigendum issued in the Gazette of Pakistan said that the 'Supreme Court' be read as 'the high Court.'