ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC), Friday, ruled that instead of the high court, district judges would hear the civil appeals after the Civil Courts (Amendment) Act, 2025.
A division bench, comprising Justice Muhammad Azam Khan and Justice Inaam Amin Minhas, declared that in a civil reference titled, “The Civil Courts (Amendment) Act, 2025 and Transfer of Appeals from Islamabad High Court to District Judges (East) & (West), Islamabad, in pursuance thereof.”
The IHC office moved the instant reference and attached a list of cases pertaining to Regular First Appeals filed against the decrees or orders passed by learned civil judges working under the administrative control of the IHC. The list contained 1594 RFAs, which is stated to be tentative.
The questions formulated in the reference were included whether amendment made in Section 18 is a matter of procedure and had retrospective effect? and whether High Court can transfer pending appeals to the District Judges on its own motion without notice to the parties to the lis?
Justice Azam, who authored the judgment, said that the power of High Court delegated under Section 24, CPC, is further fortified in the judgment passed in Khan Muhammad and others Vs. Ishtiaq Hussain reported as 1987 SCMR 1482.
He maintained, “A statute amending the forum for institution of appeal or that of the Appellate Court during the pendency of the lis will obviously have retrospective effect unless otherwise provided by the subsequent Act. Prior to the instant amendment, appeals against interim orders passed by Civil Judges, where the value of the suit for the purpose of jurisdiction exceeded Rs. 2,500,000/-, were being filed in the High Court.”
“However, it is clarified that now any order passed by a Civil Judge during pendency of the proceedings is appealable before the District Judge. The Office shall also transmit those appeals filed against interim orders to the respective District Judges,” said the IHC.
It continued that there is no opposition to this legal proposition or to the course adopted from either side. Resultantly, all the appeals filed against decrees or orders passed by learned Civil Judges, including but not limited to those listed in the annexed list, are hereby ordered to be remitted to the learned District Judges of the respective Divisions, who may entrust the same to the Additional District Judges in the ordinary distribution of work.
It further said that given the fact that these appeals pertain to the year 2013, the district judges are expected to place the older appeals on fast track and dispose of the same as per guidelines and policy on the subject.
The bench also said that the M.I.T. of this Court is also directed to oversee the distribution of the oldest appeals proactively and ensure their expeditious disposal, and submit periodic reports to this Court.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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