The Supreme Court registrar’s office on Thursday returned the federal government’s review petition challenging the court’s order to transfer former prime minister Imran Khan from Adiala Jail to Shifa International Hospital, citing incomplete paperwork.
The development does not amount to the Supreme Court rejecting the government’s arguments on their merits. According to Dawn, the registrar’s office returned the petition because its paper books were incomplete. An informed source said the government could file the petition again with amendments while also challenging the registrar’s objections.
The government had approached the Supreme Court on Wednesday seeking review and recall of its August 18 interim order. That ruling directed authorities to move Khan to Shifa International Hospital within two days for examination and treatment by a multidisciplinary medical board.
The three-member bench, headed by Justice Shahid Waheed and including Justices Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Ishtiaq Ibrahim, had issued the directions while hearing petitions concerning Khan’s hospitalisation, access to his personal physicians and relatives, and provision of his medical records to his family.
The court also allowed Khan’s personal physician and sister to remain involved in his medical care and directed authorities to facilitate regular contact with his family.
The federal government challenged the hospital-transfer provision, arguing that sending a convicted prisoner to a private hospital was inconsistent with prison rules and raised questions of equal treatment.
Its review petition specifically cited Rule 197 of the Pakistan Prison Rules, 1978, which deals with transferring prisoners to hospitals. The government argued that the provision had not been considered when the Supreme Court issued its directions.
The petition also invoked Article 25 of the Constitution, arguing that providing treatment at a private hospital could amount to preferential treatment when similarly placed prisoners are not routinely given the same option.
Thursday’s procedural development is significant because the government has not, at this stage, secured a judicial reversal of the August 18 directions. The review petition was returned by the registrar over incomplete documentation rather than dismissed by a bench after consideration of its legal arguments.
The government may now attempt to refile the petition after addressing the objections.
The distinction is particularly important for public coverage of the politically sensitive case: the Supreme Court has not rejected the government’s review case on its merits, but the government’s first attempt to challenge the hospital-transfer order has encountered a procedural hurdle.
