Mst. ZUBAIDA BEGUM vs NATHEY KHAN
The petitioner sought the transfer of a suit for restitution of conjugal rights, pending before a Family Court in Naushero Feroze, Sind, to a Family Court in Rajanpur, Punjab, where her own suit for dissolution of marriage was pending. The Lahore High Court had previously dismissed her application under Section 25-A of the West Pakistan Family Courts Act, 1964, on the grounds that the Family Court in Sind was not subordinate to the Lahore High Court. Before the Supreme Court, the petitioner argued that the Court possessed jurisdiction under Article 186-A of the Constitution of Pakistan 1973 to transfer the case. The Supreme Court held that the contention was meritless, clarifying that Article 186-A confers jurisdiction to transfer proceedings between High Courts, not from subordinate courts of one High Court to another. The Court affirmed the High Court's order as unassailable and dismissed the petition, noting that the petitioner's remedy for her safety concerns lay in moving the relevant High Court within whose jurisdiction the case was pending.
- Does the Supreme Court have jurisdiction under Article 186-A of the Constitution to transfer cases between subordinate courts of different High Courts?
- Can a High Court transfer a case pending in a court outside its territorial jurisdiction under Section 25-A of the West Pakistan Family Courts Act 1964?
- Section 25-A, West Pakistan Family Courts Act 1964
- Article 186-A, Constitution of Pakistan 1973
ORDER
S.A. NUSRAT, J.--The petitioner moved an application under section 25-A of the West Pakistan Family Courts Act, 1964 in the Lahore High Court seeking transfer of a suit filed by the respondent for restitution of conjugal rights pending in the Court of Family Nawabshah, Sind to the Court of Judge. Rajanpur where a suit for dissolution of marriage filed by the petitioner, was pending adjudication. The application was dismissed by the learned High Court as incompetent on the ground that the Family Court, Naushero Feroze was not a subordinate Court to the Lahore High Court, and rightly so.
The learned counsel feebly attempted to argue that this Court had jurisdiction under Article 186-A of the Constitution to grant the relief, prayed for. The contention has no force. The jurisdiction under the said Article is conferred for the transfer of proceedings, pending before any High Court to pay other High Court only and not from subordinate Courts of any of the High Courts.
3. The transfer of the case was sought on account of alleged apprehension on the part of the petitioner that if she goes to Sind to attend the proceedings in the Court at Naushero Feroze she may be forcibly abducted and killed. Be that as it may, the order of the learned High Court is unassailable and the petition is misconceived.
The petitioner has the remedy to move the Sind High Court if the apprehension of the respondent is really true, for the transfer of the case from Naushero Feroze to some other Court within the Jurisdiction of the said High Court. With these observations the petition is dismissed.
Cited by 1 case
- Mst. BUSHRA RAHEEL vs SAJJAD HAIDER KHAN and 2 others 1994 SCMR 2009