High courts can’t interfere in powers of subordinate judiciary: IHC

 ISLAMABAD: Justice Athar Minallah of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) while deciding a transport stand case has declared that the high courts have limited powers and cannot interfere in the discretionary powers of subordinate judiciary.

The IHC judge noted in the judgment, “It has been held by the august Supreme Court in the case titled Shahzada Muhammad Umar Beg versus Sultan Mahmood Khan that the power vested in this court under section 115 of Civil Procedure Code is of limited jurisdiction and is primarily intended for correcting errors made by the subordinate courts in exercise of their jurisdiction and discretionary orders of subordinate courts cannot be interfered with unless found fanciful and arbitrary.”

Justice Athar Minallah was hearing a case where an owner of a transport stand, Raja Khalid Mahmood Abbasi was seeking stay order against an imminent operation against his bus stand. An additional sessions judge had dismissed Abbasi’s stay application on December 09, 2015. Abbasi has dispute with another transport stand owner in Sector I-11/4.

Legal counsel for Abbasi’s rival transporter, Rana Abid Nazir told The News that Abbasi has got licences for taxi stands in Sector I-11 and he is plying long route buses at his taxi stand. Rana Abid’s client who is also running a transport business of long route busses in the same area and is affected by Abbasi’s bus stand filed a complaint before the commissioner at which the administration tried to stop Abbasi who then obtained a stay order from the court of a civil judge. Later the civil judge vacated the stay on November 10, 2015. Abbasi then filed an appeal before the court of an additional sessions judge who also dismissed his application and he then filed an application for stay before the IHC.

The IHC bench while dismissing the stay application observed, “The discretionary powers exercised by both the learned lower courts cannot be interfered with as the same have not been found fanciful or arbitrary”. The IHC bench directed both the parties to peruse their main case before the trial court and dismissed stay application.