In Sui Southern Gas Company Ltd. and others v. Federation of Pakistan and others (2018 SCMR 802), the august Supreme Court of Pakistan held that Entries 58 and 59 which fall at the end of Part 1 of the FLL are independent sources of legislative competence for Parliament with respect to matters which under the Constitution are within the legislative competence of Parliament or relate to the Federation. The august Supreme Court of Pakistan held that:
Thus, from the above provisions of the Constitution it is clear that the Federal Legislature has extra-territorial authority to legislate, but no such extra-territorial authority has been invested with the Provincial Legislature. Thus, the Provincial Legislature has no legislative competence to legislate law regulating the trade unions functioning at trans-provincial level. Needless to observe that to deal with such a matter, the Constitution itself has provided a mechanism i.e. entries Nos.58 and 59 in Part-I of FLL, whereby the Federal Legislature has been mandated to legislate in order to preserve and regulate a right, which in its exercise transcends provincial boundaries, especially one guaranteed under Article 17 of the Constitution. The scope of Entries Nos.58 and 59 shall be discussed in detail at the latter part of the judgment, considering the scope of the Entries in the FLL. 17. Additionally, Entries Nos.58 and 59, which fall at the end of the Part-I of the FLL, have their own significance. These two entries are independent and unfettered. Entry No.58 ibid covers the “Matters which under the Constitution are within the legislative competence of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) or relate to the Federation”. Further, Entry No.59 deals with the “Matters incidental or ancillary to any matter enumerated in this Part”. From the plain reading of these two Entries, it is clear that besides the subjects enumerated in the previous Entries, these Entries provide extended powers to the Federal Legislature; inasmuch as, by means of these Entries, the legislative competence of the Federal Legislature extends not only to the matters which under the Constitution are within the legislative competence of the Parliament but also to the matters which relate to the Federation and also the matters incidental or ancillary thereto. Thus, in addition to the matters specifically enumerated in any of the Entries in Part-I of the FLL, the matters which in some way relate to the Federation would also fall within the legislative competence of the Parliament. This interpretation also finds support from the fact that in terms of Article 141 of the Constitution, a Provincial Legislature does not possess extra-territorial legislative competence and therefore, cannot legislate with regard to a subject which in its application has to transcend the provincial boundaries. It is to be noted that as clarified by the learned High Court the resort to Entry No.58 ibid could only be made to deal with an extraordinary situation i.e. when a matter may fall within the legislative competence of the Province but when it comes to its application it has to travel beyond the territorial boundaries of the Province, bringing it into the domain of the Federal Legislation. Thus, it is held that the federal legislature has the competence to legislate relating to the Establishment/Trade Unions functioning at the Federal as well as trans-provincial level. (Emphasis added)
Part of Judgment
IN THE LAHORE HIGH COURT AT LAHORE JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT
Writ Petition
1024369.9518-09
2020 LHC 2274
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