Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry has asked the Parliament to pass the amendments in Code of Civil Procedure. LCCI President Almas Hyder said that early decision of Parliament regarding amendments in Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 will be a great favour to the trade and industry as after approval of amendments in Code of Civil Procedure, businessmen can get speedy decisions.
LCCI president said that a major cause of delay in Pakistan's civil litigation system is that when a party files a suit accompanied with an injunction/stay application, the main suit does not proceed. He said that the court only then focuses on the stay application which takes many years to decide the stay/injunction.
He said that the main suit remains in a state of inertia. A new concept of a two tier-system has been proposed in the amendment. Two different judges will hear the entire suit. In the first tier, the main case would be heard by one judge without interruption till the finalization of the proceedings. Stay and other miscellaneous applications would be heard in the second tier by another judge, he added.
The proposed change is a radically evolutionary step in our civil litigation system and is completely unique and different from other jurisdictions such as India, Bangladesh and United Kingdom. It will ameliorate the civil litigation practice and will become precedence for other countries to follow, he said.
Hyder said that such a change will reduce the massive period of civil litigation to a maximum of two years or a little more, including appeals. In civil litigation, especially in matters relating to land, property and revenue disputes, the decisions are based on inspections, including physical demarcations effected by lower grade revenue officers who often manipulate or give false reports which result in appeals and applications by aggrieved parties being stuck in litigation for years.
He said that amendments in Code of civil Procedure, 1908 will not only reduce the burden on the courts as they will be able to focus on other proceedings but at the same time, it would also curb allegations of fraud and fabrication of statement by parties.
LCCI chief said that presently, the Civil Procedure Code contains two appeals and a revision up to the high court after which a further mechanism is given, which is a major cause of excessive and inordinate delays for the conclusion of the proceedings. The proposed amendment will help get rid of multiple tiers of appeal along with a revision, he added.