High court issues notices in judicial powers case.

PESHAWAR -- The Peshawar High Court has issued notices to the attorney general for Pakistan and provincial advocate general on a petition, which challenged several provisions of different laws assigning of magisterial powers to administrative officers.

A bench consisting of Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Syed Mohammad Attique Shah issued the order after holding preliminary hearing into the petition of lawyer Shabina Noor, who claimed that the assigning of judicial powers to executive officers was unconstitutional.

The bench ordered the clubbing of the petition with the one filed by the petitioner earlier against the April 16 notification of the assigning of judicial powers to the assistant commissioners.

It directed the attorney and advocate generals to respond to the petitions on the next hearing, whose schedule will be announced later.

Petition challenges magisterial powers of administrative officers

In the petition, the lawyer requested the court to declare unconstitutional different provisions of the KP Epidemic Control and Emergency Relief Ordinance, 2020, KP Civil Administration (Public Service Delivery and Good Governance) Act, 2020, and Price Control and Prevention of Profiteering and Hoarding Act, 1977.

She also requested the court to stop officers of district administration and other non-judicial officers from exercising judicial powers under those laws.

The petitioner sought the court's orders for stopping special magistrates appointed under Section 14-A of the Code of Criminal Procedure from using judicial powers under Section 10 of the KP Food Stuff (Control) Act, 1958.

Noor Alam Khan, lawyer for the petitioner, said intervention by the executive had been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in a number of judgments and that it had been held an encroachment on the powers of judiciary by the legislature and the executive and unconstitutional under Article 175(3) of the Constitution.

He said Articles 2-A and 175 of the Constitution...