Discretionary relief: Civil revision petitions can be dismissed: SC

Says courts should not be rendered slave to a person who files a revision petition

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has declared that civil revision petitions, once admitted for regular hearing, can be dismissed for non-prosecution.

The top court’s senior most judge, Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, issued the ruling on whether a civil revision, filed under Section 115 of the Code of Civil Procedure of 1908 (CPC), once admitted for regular hearing, can be dismissed or not.

The judgment says the revision court should not be compelled to decide a civil revision on merit in the absence of either party just because it has been admitted for regular hearing.

“When the revision court decides to take up a matter suo motu, it should have necessarily done so by a conscious application of judicial mind and a thorough examination of the record. Where the revision court has taken up the matter at the behest of a person, the court has the power to dismiss the civil revision for non-prosecution, even after it has been admitted for regular hearing, and is not bound to decide the same on merit,” says the judgment.

The ruling says the courts should not be rendered a slave to a person who files a revision petition and subsequently chooses not to appear before the revision court because of “disinterest or ignorance/indolence”, and neither should such person “be awarded a premium/privilege” in this regard, as this would result in (possible) injustice to the contesting party.

“Adopting such a course would inevitably result in an undesirable increase in the caseload of the (overburdened) courts as numerous revision petitions would remain pending.”

It also said that the function of the revision court is to ensure proper administration of justice through proper exercise of jurisdiction, procedural accuracy, correctness of decision and legality thereof by the subordinate court.

“If the revision court is satisfied that the subordinate court has not erred in this regard and the decision is sound in law, then it will not reverse or modify the decision solely on the basis that the subordinate court could have reached a different conclusion on merits.”

The order states that there is no bar whatsoever contained in the positive law, ie CPC, preventing the revision court from dismissing a civil revision for non-prosecution.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 13^th, 2016.