- Reko Dik, Steel Mill cases’ fallout shows SC decisions are mixed blessings
The Balochistan Chief Minister, speaking to an adjournment motion on the subject, said that the Supreme Court’s decision in the Reko Diq case had ultimately led to the decision of the International Centre for Settlement on Investment Disputes and a fine of $6 billion being slapped on the Balochistan government. Meanwhile, in Karachi, workers of the Pakistan Steel Mill staged a protest, demanding the payment of two months salaries before Eidul Azha, less than a week away. They also said that 5000 PSM pensioners were not being paid pensions. There is a common thread: commercial undertakings had operation dictated by judicial activism, and the result in neither case has been good. It is to be noticed that in both cases, the Supreme Court had plunged into the issue of its own accord, through a suo motu notice, rather than be forced into a decision by a petition being brought before it. In both cases, the Supreme Court had fallen in with a wave of public feeling, and had given a popular decision. In both cases, those decisions have backfired badly.
In the Reko Diq case, the Supreme Court intervened against a contract because an impression had been created that the country’s interests had been sold out to a foreign company. The Balochistan CM disclosed how the SC-mandated solution of getting a nuclear scientist to fulfil his commitment to carry out the mining flopped badly, while the SC’s cancellation of the contract met its fate in the ICFSTD. The federal government meanwhile has set up a probe committee to identify who was responsible, but that will not save the province any money.
Similarly, the Supreme Court kept the Steel Mill going when it had been decided to shut it down. The consequences are now plain: salaries have not been paid for months. What this means to workers is that they are not forced to face their situation, and keep on looking to the payment of those salaries. Supreme Court judges know better than anyone that commercial law is the most complicated legal speciality because it requires a careful consideration, indeed calculation, of consequences. People do not expect judges to take popular decisions, but rather correct ones.