The Supreme Court prohibits high courts from cancelling ongoing inquiries and FIRs.

ISLAMABAD – The Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) decided on Wednesday that high courts could not overturn existing investigations or First Information Reports (FIRs) that had already been filed.

The Supreme Court heard a petition submitted by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to vacate the case brought against Capital Development Authority executives (CDA).

The SCP concluded that since high courts could not utilise Article 561-A of the Pakistan Penal Code, they were not authorised to cancel the investigations and FIRs (PPC). According to the judgement, Article 561-A may be applied only if the accused has filed a bail petition with the high court.

The Supreme Court said that the SCP may only cancel the high courts’ decisions and not the inquiry. The verdict indicated that a high court may evaluate the inquiry and cases since the power conferred in public employees reflected the public’s trust in them.

The top court found no criminality in the promotion of CDA personnel and fined inspector FIA Irfan Barki Rs100,000 for filing a frivolous appeal. The fine will be paid to the candidates in the case, according to the court.