AHMAD ALI vs INSPECTORGENERAL, PUNJAB POLICE and 2 others

The petitioners filed two separate petitions under Article 212(3) of the Constitution of Pakistan 1973, seeking leave to appeal against judgments of the Service Tribunal. The Tribunal had dismissed their service appeals as time-barred. The core legal question was whether the time spent pursuing incompetent revision petitions before the Inspector-General of Police could be condoned or excluded when calculating the limitation period for filing an appeal before the Service Tribunal. The Supreme Court held that the Service Tribunal correctly dismissed the appeals. The Court affirmed the Tribunal's finding that since the petitioners had no legal right to file a revision or second appeal to the Inspector-General of Police, the time consumed in those proceedings could not be legally excluded or condoned for the purpose of extending the limitation period prescribed for filing appeals before the Service Tribunal. Consequently, the Court found no legal infirmity in the Tribunal's decision and refused to grant leave to appeal, establishing that pursuing an incompetent remedy does not toll the limitation period for statutory appeals.