ORDER XXIII

1THE SUPREME COURT RULES, 1978 1THE SUPREME COURT RULES, 1978. PART II APPELLATE JURISDICTION ORDER XXIII PETITIONS FOR LEAVE TO APPEAL IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS. 1 Save as hereinafter provided, the provisions with respect to petitions for special leave to appeal in civil proceedings contained in Order XIII of this Part of the Rules, shall, with necessary modifications and adaptations, apply to applications for leave to appeal in criminal matters: Provided that no court‑fee, process‑fee or search‑fee shall be charged and no copying charges shall be made except for copies other than the first to any party to the proceedings. 2 All petitions and applications for leave to appeal in criminal matters shall be lodged in the Court within thirty days from the date of the judgement or order sought to be appealed from or from the date of the refusal of certificate under section 42 (11) (f) of the Constitution by the High Court: Provided that the Court may for sufficient cause shown extend the time. Exception: The period of limitation for a petition for leave to appeal instituted by the Advocate General, against an order of acquittal by the High Court shall be sixty days. 3. The petitioner, if he is in jail, may present his petition for leave to appeal in respect of his own conviction along with the accompanying documents, including any written arguments which he may desire to advance, to the Officer in charge of the jail who shall forthwith forward them to the Registrar. 4 4[Except in cases involving the sentence of death, the Registrar shall place the petition and the accompanying documents so received before the Court, and the Court may, upon perusal of the papers, reject the petition summarily without hearing the petitioner in person if it considers that there is no sufficient ground for granting leave to appeal.] 5 In the case of a petition for leave to appeal involving a sentence of death, the Registrar shall as soon as the petition is filed or received from the Officer in Charge of a jail, intimate the fact of the petition having been filed or received in the Court to the Government and thereupon the execution of the sentence of death shall be stayed pending the disposal of the petition. 6. In the case of petition for leave to appeal in respect of a proceeding under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947 (VII of 1947), the Registrar shall cause notice of the petition also to be given to the Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan even if the said Bank is not impleaded as a party. 7. Pending the disposal of a petition under this Order, the Court may direct that execution of any order for imprisonment or fine, against which leave to appeal is sought, be stayed on such terms as the Court may think fit: Provided that unless surrender is first made to an order for imprisonment as above, the petition shall not be posted for hearing, nor shall operation of such order be suspended. 8. After the grant of petition for leave to appeal by the Court, the Registrar shall transmit a certified copy of the order to the Court appealed from. The Court appealed from shall then arrange for the transmission of the original record of the appeal including the records of the Courts below with all convenient speed. In case where paper books of the appeal were printed or typed for use in the High Court, 12 copies thereof, or such lesser number as the Registrar or this Court may specify, shall also be transmitted along with the original record. 9 The provisions contained in Order XXII shall, so far as practicable, apply to criminal appeals arising under this Order except that the record shall be prepared at the expense of the appellant. 10 The paper books for use in the Supreme Court shall be prepared at the expense of the appellant unless otherwise ordered by the Court; but in case involving sentence of death or for life, these shall be prepared at the expense of the Government.