Messrs ISLAMABAD WOOLLEN MILLS LTD, vs Messrs AAJ PRIVATE LTD.
This matter comes before the Supreme Court of Pakistan upon a petition challenging the High Court's order remanding a rent case to the Additional District Judge for considering grounds of personal need and default in payment of rent, instead of deciding the matter itself when evidence was available. The core legal question concerns the appropriateness of the remand order by the High Court when complete evidence was already on record. The Supreme Court held that while the petitioner's argument regarding the High Court deciding the matter itself had force, it declined to interfere with the impugned remand order because the proceedings before the Additional District Judge pursuant to the remand had already concluded or reached the stage of order-pronouncement. The petition was accordingly disposed of with a direction for the Additional District Judge to announce the order by a specified date.
- Whether the High Court should decide a matter itself when the entire evidence is available instead of remanding it?
- Will the Supreme Court interfere with a remand order when proceedings pursuant to that remand have already reached the final stage before the lower court?
ORDER
1. IRSHAD HASAN KHAN, C.J.---The sole point urged by Hafiz S.A. Rehman, learned Senior Advocate Supreme Court appearing on behalf of the petitioner, is that there was no justification for remanding the case to the learned Additional District Judge for considering the grounds of personal need and default in payment of rent and the High Court should have itself decided the whole matter in that the entire evidence was available before it. The submission does not appear to be devoid of force. Be that as it may, we are informed by Mr. Farooq Zaman Qureshi, learned.
2. Advocate Supreme Court for the respondent that pursuant to the decision of the High Court the learned Additional District Judge has heard the case and it was fixed for orders yesterday and now it is fixed for today. This being so, we are not inclined to interfere with the impugned order. However, we direct that the learned Additional District Judge shall announce the order up to 24th March, 2000, under intimation to the Assistant Registrar of this Court at Lahore. With the above observations the petition is disposed of.