The Supreme Court has ruled that defending a case ordinarily includes taking all appropriate legal steps during litigation to protect a client's interests against adverse orders. A two-member bench - comprising Justice Shakeel Ahmed and Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim - issued the ruling on Tuesday in a case brought by the central government through the Collector of Dera Ismail Khan against Tariq Mansoor and others. The government had challenged a February 9, 2022, judgment of the Peshawar High Court (PHC).

After hearing the case at length, the Supreme Court allowed the appeal and set aside the high court's judgment. The court held that the legal adviser of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had broad authority to defend all cases relating to the Revenue and Estate Department. Therefore, merely because the word "review" was not specifically mentioned in the appointment order was not sufficient grounds to declare the petition inadmissible.

The court further held that the High Court had adopted an overly narrow interpretation of the legal adviser's authority. "Consequently, where a broadly worded authorisation empowers the legal adviser to defend all court cases, the absence of an express reference to the filing of a revision petition cannot, by itself, furnish a valid ground for rejecting the revisional proceedings," says the six-page judgment, authored by Justice Shakeel Ahmed.

The court held that the High Court fell into error in adopting an unduly narrow construction of the order whereby the legal adviser was appointed to undertake the defence of all court cases relating to the Revenue & Estate Department. "The impugned judgment, therefore, cannot be sustained and warrants interference by this court and consequently, this petition is converted into an appeal and is allowed," says the judgment.

The court set aside the Peshawar High Court's Feb 9, 2022 judgment and remanded the matter to the High Court for a decision afresh on merit, after hearing the parties.