Frivolous litigation delays resolution of genuine disputes: SC

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) held on Friday that frivolous litigation unduly burdens courts, giving artificial rise to pendency of cases which in turn clogs the justice system and delays resolution of genuine disputes.

A three-member SC bench, headed by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and comprising Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan, issued a written order in a petition filed against a judgment of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) regarding a property dispute, titled Asma Haleem verses Abdul Haseeb Chaudhry and others.

The court held that according to statistics provided by the Law & Justice Commission of Pakistan, there are about 2.2 million (2,255,295) cases pending before all courts in the country. “Such frivolous, vexatious and speculative litigation unduly burdens the courts giving artificial rise to pendency of cases which in turn clogs the justice system and delays the resolution of genuine disputes,” said the written order authored by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah.

The court held that such litigation was required to be rooted out of the system and strongly discouraged and one of the ways to curb such practice of instituting frivolous and vexatious cases was by imposing of costs under Order XXVIII, Rule 3 of the Supreme Court Rules, 1980 which laid the foundation for expeditious justice and promoted a smart legal system, enhancing access to justice by entertaining genuine claims.

The court dismissed the petition with costs of Rs50,000 to be paid to the respondents, and in case of its failure, the same should be recoverable as a money decree.

The petitioner had filed a suit for partition, permanent, possession, permanent and mandatory injunction regarding the built-up property constructed house two floors over land measuring 1 kanal numbered as Plot No7-M, Raja Akhtar Road, Korang Valley, Shahpur, Barakahu, Islamabad.

The suit property was owned by the father of the parties and after necessary proceedings, the trial court issued a preliminary decree vide order dated 13-1-2020 and appointed a local commission. Subsequently, reserve price of the suit property was fixed by the trial court, which was objected to by the petitioner on 16-3-2020. Thereafter, a court auctioneer was appointed by the trial court, who conducted the auction proceedings and submitted his final report to the court on 18-3-2023 which was also objected to by the petitioner. The objections were turned down by the trial court vide order dated 12-4-2023 against which the petitioner preferred an appeal which was allowed vide order dated 8-7-2023. A revision petition was filed before the Islamabad High Court (IHC), which was allowed vide judgment dated 2-7-2024, hence the petition was filed for leave to appeal. The court heard the learned counsel for the petitioner at some length and went through the impugned judgment of the high court, examined the law on the subject and record of the case.