Post by Abid S. Zuberi | Ayan M. Memon Law Associates

We are pleased to announce that CP No. D-4649 of 2017, argued by our Partner Barrister Ayan Mustafa Memon and Senior Associate Barrister S. G. Mustafa Shah, has been decided in favour of our clients by the Honourable Divisional Bench of the High Court of Sindh at Karachi and has now been reported as 2026 CLC 777. Through this important judgment, the Sindh High Court has reaffirmed a fundamental constitutional principle: delegated legislation cannot travel beyond the authority conferred by the parent statute, nor can mandatory statutory requirements be bypassed through executive action. We had the privilege of representing the Petitioners, who were subjected to notices, additional fiscal burdens, offences, and regulatory requirements under the Sindh Coal Mines Rules, 2016. At the heart of the matter was a significant constitutional question: whether the executive, through rules framed without prior Cabinet approval, could effectively expand and rewrite the parent law by creating new fiscal burdens, offences, powers, and regulatory structures never contemplated by the statute itself. The Honourable Court answered in the negative, reaffirming the ratio laid down by the Honourable Supreme Court of Pakistan in the landmark Mustafa Impex case. The Court held that: • Rules framed without prior Cabinet approval are of no legal effect; • The Cabinet alone constitutes the “Federal Government” for the purposes of constitutional decision-making; • The ratio in Mustafa Impex is not confined to fiscal matters alone; and • Ex Post facto ratification is invalid. Accordingly, the impugned notices issued under the Sindh Coal Mines Rules, 2016 were set aside, granting substantial relief to the Petitioners. The matter was ably assisted by Associates Advocate Areebah Uqaili and Rania Adeel. This judgment serves as another important reaffirmation of constitutional supremacy, limits on delegated legislation, and the rule of law.