JURISDICTION OF SINDH AND LAHORE HIGH COURTS: A TIME LINE

·         Government of India Act 1915

o   Section 106 – Jurisdiction, original and appellate “subject to the provisions of any such letters patent , all such jurisdiction, powers and authority as are vested in those courts respectively  at the commencement of this act”.

o   Section 107 – Superintendence

o   Section 108-  Power to make rules and Chief Justice’s power to determine which judge to sit on which cases and what Division Benches to be constituted.

o   Section 113- The Rex aka Emperor of India through the British Government is empowered to create additional High Courts.

·         Letters Patent  for Lahore High Court issued in March 1919 issued under Government of India Act 1915

o   Created a High Court of Judicature at Lahore.

o   Original Jurisdiction

§  Extraordinary Original Civil Jurisdiction (Clause 9)

§  Ordinary Original Criminal Jurisdiction (Clause 15)

o   Appellate Jurisdiction

§  From Civil Courts of the Provinces of Punjab and Delhi and all other courts in its superintendence (Clause 11)

o   Testamentary and Intestate Jurisdiction (Clause 24)

o   Matrimonial Jurisdiction

o   Letters Patent Appeal (Clause 10) against single judge’s judgment to division court in the exercise of matters which do not fall within either the appellate jurisdiction or the criminal jurisdiction of the High Court.

·         Government of India Act 1935

o   Section 223 stated that “the jurisdiction of , and the law administered in, any existing High Court and the respective powers of the judges thereof in relation to the administration of justice in the court… shall be the same as immediately before the commencement of Part III of this Act.”

·         Government of India (Amendment) Act 1954

o   Added 223-A to the GOIA 1935.

o   223-A provided writ jurisdiction

·         Governor General’s Order IV of 1955 – West Pakistan (Establishment) Order, 1955

o   Section 5 stated “Nothing in this Order shall affect the composition or the jurisdiction of any High Court”.

·         Establishment of West Pakistan Act, 1955

o   Under Section 7 the Governor General was empowered to establish a High Court for the Province of West Pakistan. It had a non-obstante section vis a vis GOIA 1935. Furthermore it specifically referred to 223 of the GOIA 1935 stating that it would be construed accordingly i.e. jurisdiction.

o   In the first schedule some other changes were made to GOIA 1935

§  Section 223 – “For the words ‘the appropriate legislature enacted by virtue of powers conferred on that Legislature by this Act’ the words ‘a competent legislature or any order made thereunder’ shall be substituted”.

o   Chief Justice of Lahore High Court became the Chief Justice of West Pakistan High Court.

• Special situation vis a vis the Sindh High Court :
• The Sindh Courts Act, 1926
• Section 3 thereof established a Chief Court for Sindh.
• Section 8  originally read “The Chief Court shall be the highest civil court of appeal and revision and the highest court of criminal appeal and and revision for Sindh and the principal civil court of original jurisdiction for the civil district of Karachi and shall be the Court of Session and shall exercise the powers and perform the duties of a Session Judge in the Sessions Division of Karachi.”
• Sind Laws (Adaptation Revision, Repeal and Declaration) Ordinance 1955 repealed “and the principal civil court of original jurisdiction for the civil district of Karachi and shall be the Court of Session and shall exercise the powers and perform the duties of a Session Judge in the Sessions Division of Karachi.”
• Law Reforms Ordinance 1972
• Provided for Intra Court Appeal (successor to Letters Patent Appeal)
• 3. Appeal to High Courts in certain cases (1) An appeal shall lie to a Bench of two or more Judges of a High Court from  a decree passed or final order made by a Single Judge of that Court in the exercise of its original civil jurisdiction.

(2) An appeal shall also lie to a Bench of two or more Judges of a High Court from an order made by a Single of that Court under clause (1) of Article 199 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan not being an order made under sub-paragraph (i) of paragraph (b) of that clause:

Provided that the appeal referred to in this subsection shall notn be available or competent if the application brought before the High Court under Article 199 arises out of any proceedings in which the law applicable for at least one revision or one review to any Court, Tribunal or authority against the original order.

(3) No appeal shall lie under sub-section(1) or subsection(2) from an interlocutory order or an order which does not dispose of the entire case before the Court.

(4) Nothing contained in this Ordinance, shall be construed as affecting:-

(a) any appeal under the provisions of the Letters Patent applicable to a High Court or under section 102 of the Code of Civil Procedure (v of 1908) which was pending immediately before the commencement of this Ordinance; or

(b) any appeal or petition for leave to appeal from a decree, judgment or order of a Single Judge of a High Court made to the Supreme Court before the commencement of the Law Reforms (Amendment) Ordinance, 1972.

• Code of Civil Procedure (Amendment) Ordinance 1980
• Provided for Intra Court Appeal against interlocutory orders made by a single judge in the exercise of his original civil jurisdiction.
• 15. Appeal to High Court in certain cases. Notwithstanding anything contained in section 3 of the Law Reforms Ordinance, 1972 (XII of 1972) an appeal shall lie to a Bench of two or more Judges of a High Court from an interlocutory order made by a Single Judge of that Court in the exercise of its original civil jurisdiction.