CHAUDHRY BROTHERS LTD. vs GOVERNMENT OF PAKISTAN THROUGH SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF FOOD & AGRICULTURE, ISLAMABAD
This matter concerns an application filed under Clause 9 of the President's Order 8 of 1970, seeking the transfer of a Letters Patent Appeal from the High Court of Sind & Baluchistan, Karachi, to the High Court, Lahore. The core legal question was whether the relocation of the respondent-Government's seat from Karachi to Rawalpindi/Islamabad necessitated a transfer of pending litigation to a different High Court jurisdiction. The Court dismissed the petition, holding that the change in the capital's location does not alter the jurisdiction of the court where the litigation was originally instituted. The Court emphasized that a petitioner must adhere to the forum they originally selected for their action. The ratio establishes that the shifting of a government seat does not provide a valid legal ground for transferring pending judicial proceedings between High Courts, as the forum of the original action remains the appropriate venue for the disposal of appeals arising from that court's judgments. Consequently, the petition was dismissed, affirming the continuity of jurisdiction in the Karachi High Court.
- Does the relocation of a government seat from one city to another affect the jurisdiction of a High Court over pending litigation?
- Can a petitioner transfer a pending Letters Patent Appeal to a different High Court solely due to the shifting of the respondent's administrative headquarters?
- Is a party bound to the forum originally selected for their legal action despite subsequent administrative changes?
- Clause 9, President's Order 8 of 1970
1. SAMAD AHMAD, J.---This is an application t1;1der Clause 9 of the President's Order 8 of 1970 for transfer of L. P. A.
2. No. 38/68 pending in the High Court of Sind & Baluchistan, Karachi, to the High Court, Lahore. It appears that the litiga--tion between the parties is going on in Karachi since 1952. The matter was, at one stage, referred to the arbitration of Mr. Justice Muhammad Munir, a former Chief Justice of Pakistan, who gave his award on the 8th of June 1966, which was made the rule of the Court by a learned Single Judge of the Karachi Bench on the 2nd of December 1967. The Letters Patent Appeal in question was filed by the respondent during the year 1968. The ground urged is that when the litigation was started, the seat of the respondent-Government was at Karachi but now it has shifted to Rawalpindi, and. Therefore, the matter now falls within the jurisdiction of the Lahore High Court. This ground is entirely, untenable. The present appeal arises out of the judgment of a Single Judge of the Karachi High Court, and has to be disposed of by a Letters Patent Bench of that Court.
3. The petitioner must stick to the forum, which he had selected for his action, i.e., the Karachi High Court. The change of capital from Karachi to Islamabad does not affect the issue. This change might more likely cause inconvenience to the respondent in pursuit of this litigation but does not at all alter the situation so far as the petitioner is concerned. The petition is dismissed.