Petition of leave to Appeal
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This case involved two government employees who challenged a High Court judgment that had dismissed their writ petitions. Instead of filing the correct legal remedy, an Intra Court Appeal before the High Court, they mistakenly filed petitions for leave to appeal directly to the Supreme Court.
The Federation argued that since the law provided for an Intra Court Appeal against such judgments, these petitions for leave to appeal were not the proper remedy and should simply be dismissed, leaving the petitioners to file fresh Intra Court Appeals.
The Supreme Court noted that one petitioner had filed within 20 days of the judgment, meaning an Intra Court Appeal would still be within time, while the other had filed on the 58th day, which would make a fresh appeal potentially time-barred. The Court found that the petitioners had made an honest mistake, likely due to wrong legal advice, and that simply dismissing their petitions and forcing them to start over would be an unnecessary technical exercise.
Rather than penalize the petitioners for this procedural error, the Supreme Court decided to convert their petitions into Intra Court Appeals and sent them back to the High Court to be decided on merits, with the High Court to separately examine any limitation issues.
This judgment matters because it shows courts can look past procedural technicalities and relabel a case correctly to ensure people get a fair hearing, rather than losing their case purely due to a filing mistake.
یہ مقدمہ دو سرکاری ملازمین سے متعلق تھا جنہوں نے ہائی کورٹ کے اس فیصلے کو چیلنج کیا تھا جس میں ان کی رٹ پٹیشنز خارج کر دی گئی تھیں۔ درست قانونی چارہ جوئی، یعنی ہائی کورٹ کے سامنے انٹرا کورٹ اپیل دائر کرنے کے بجائے، انہوں نے غلطی سے براہ راست سپریم کورٹ میں اپیل کی اجازت کے لیے درخواستیں دائر کر دیں۔
وفاق کا موقف تھا کہ چونکہ قانون کے مطابق ایسے فیصلوں کے خلاف انٹرا کورٹ اپیل کا راستہ موجود ہے، لہٰذا یہ اپیل کی اجازت کی درخواستیں درست قانونی چارہ جوئی نہیں ہیں اور انہیں محض خارج کر دیا جانا چاہیے، تاکہ درخواست گزار نئے سرے سے انٹرا کورٹ اپیلیں دائر کر سکیں۔
سپریم کورٹ نے نوٹ کیا کہ ایک درخواست گزار نے فیصلے کے بیس دن کے اندر درخواست دائر کی تھی، جس کا مطلب یہ تھا کہ انٹرا کورٹ اپیل کے لیے اب بھی وقت باقی ہے، جبکہ دوسرے درخواست گزار نے اٹھاون ویں دن درخواست دائر کی
Generated from the full judgment text below — not a substitute for reading the actual opinion.
Citation Name : 2012 SCMR 1292 SUPREME-COURT Side Appellant : ABRAR-UL-HAQ SHAMI, DEPUTY SECRETARY, ESTABLISHMENT DIVISION, ISLAMABAD Side Opponent : FEDERATION OF PAKISTAN through Secretary Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis, Islamabad Art. 185(3)---Law Reforms Ordinance (XII of 1972), S. 3---Petition for leave to appeal ---Conversion of such a petition into an Intra Court appeal to be decided by High Court---Scope---Petitions for leave to appeal were filed against the impugned judgment of the High Court by which writ petitions of the petitioners were dismissed---Respondent contended that where an Intra Court appeal was provided by law against the impugned judgment, a petition for leave to appeal would not be maintainable and same had to be dismissed as such the petitioners might file separate Intra Court appeal s before the High Court---Validity---First petition for leave to appeal (first petition) was filed on the 20th day of the announcement of the impugned judgment and an Intra Court appeal as such would not be out of time, while the second petition for leave to appeal ( second petition) was filed on the 58th day of the announcement of the impugned judgment and as such an Intra Court appeal would be out of time---Filing of petitions for leave to appeal by the petitioners was apparently an innocent mistake based upon the wrong advice of the counsel and of misunderstanding of the petitioner of the second petition, who perhaps might have followed the petitioner of the first petition in availing the remedy against the impugned judgment, which remedy although might not be maintainable but by dismissing the same and allowing the petitioners to file an Intra Court appeal would only be ministerial work which could appropriately be cut short by allowing the present petitions to be treated as Intra Court appeal s to be decided by the High Court---Question of limitation arising in the Intra Court appeal s would be dealt by the High Court in accordance with the law---Present cases provided enough justification, where technicalities of procedure could be overcome by converting petition for leave to appeal into appeal or remanding the case from one court to another court/Tribunal by making the very same case by changing its character, nature or name and decided accordingly---Petitions for leave to appeal were disposed of by treating the same as Intra Court appeal s, which were to be decided by the High Court in accordance with the law.