Mian ABDUL GHANI And Another vs REHMATULLAH SHEIKH
The petitioners, who were plaintiffs in a pre-emption suit concerning urban property, sought leave to appeal against a Lahore High Court judgment. The High Court had set aside a trial court's order that allowed the petitioners to produce a registered deed as additional evidence to prove the contiguity of their property, citing a lack of sufficient cause for the document's initial non-production. The petitioners challenged the High Court's interference, arguing that a revision petition against an order allowing additional evidence was legally incompetent and that the trial court's discretion should not have been disturbed. The Supreme Court, noting that the matter involved a purely legal question regarding the scope of revisional jurisdiction over interlocutory orders allowing additional evidence, converted the petition into an appeal. The Court granted leave to appeal, directing the parties to prepare for a hearing on the existing record while allowing for the submission of additional documents, thereby keeping the legal question of the competency of the revision petition open for final adjudication.
- Is a revision petition competent against a trial court's order granting permission to produce additional evidence?
- Under what circumstances can a High Court interfere with a trial court's discretion to allow additional evidence under Order XIII Rule 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure 1908?
- Order XIII Rule 2, Code of Civil Procedure 1908
ORDER
1. SHAFIUR RAHMAN, J.--The petitioner is a pre-emptor in a pending civil suit and seeks leave to appeal against the judgment of the Lahore High Court, dated 9th of June, 1984 whereby permission granted to produce the copy of a registered deed by way of additional evidence was recalled on a revision petition filed by the respondents.
2. The right of pre-emotion claimed by the pre-emptor relates to an urban property and in order to prove his superior right of pre--emption, he sought and obtained from the trial Court the permission on an application under order XIII, rule 2, C.P.C. To produce the copy of a registered deed in order to show contiguity of his property. The permission was subject to the payment of Rs.30 as costs with a right to the defendant to produce evidence in its rebuttal. In the civil revision the High Court interfered with it on the ground that sufficient cause was not shown for non- production of the document at ail earlier stage.
3. The learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that in fact no revision petition against permission to lead additional evidence was at all competent and the discretion exercised by the trial Court in any case should have been interfered with. The learned counsel has relied oil the order granting leave to appeal-by this Court in Muhammad Asghar v. District Judge, Sialkot and 3 others 1984 SC f1 R 1225.
4. As the question involved is a purely legal one and relates to a pending matter, we convert this petition into an appeal. Security of Rs.2,500 shall be deposited within one month and the appeal shall be made ready for hearing within six months after service of notice. To be heard on tile present record with liberty to the parties to file such additional documents as they consider necessary.