The Supreme Court has ruled that a subsequent bench comprising the same number of judges is bound by the judgment of an earlier co-equal bench and cannot issue a conflicting ruling on the same legal point. If it disagrees with the earlier judgment, the matter must be referred to a larger bench through the Chief Justice. The Supreme Court observed that Article 189 of the Constitution made the legal principles laid down by the Supreme Court binding on all courts in Pakistan. The ruling came in a tax matter involving conflicting judgments concerning the applicability of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 to assessments completed under the repealed Income Tax Ordinance, 1979. The five-member bench held that any departure from a previous judgment of a co-equal bench must necessarily be made through a larger bench.