Proceedings for same relief cannot be conducted on two different forums: LHC CJ
Pakistan
She emphasised that court time is extremely valuable
LAHORE (Muhammad Ashfaq) – Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice Aalia Neelum says proceedings for the same relief cannot be conducted on two different forums.
Chief Justice Aalia Neelum issued a four-page written verdict on a petition filed by Munir Ahmed.
Advocate Azhar Siddique presented arguments on behalf of the petitioner.
Justice Neelum expressed strong displeasure over the filing of a frivolous petition, stating that this petition had already been filed and dismissed by the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
She emphasised that court time was extremely valuable and should be reserved for serious matters. Such petitions are filed without any sense of responsibility, patience, or adherence to legal procedures. Courts are overwhelmed with frivolous cases due to the habit of filing such baseless petitions, she said.
Justice Neelum noted that public interest litigation was being filed on every issue, most often for publicity. Such actions undermine the credibility of genuine public interest petitions.
The court’s time gets wasted on hearing such frivolous matters, and if this continues, the court will become a silent spectator where public time and resources are wasted.
According to the decision, the current petition sought to nullify the SOPs of PNIL (Pakistan National Identity List).
The government lawyer stated that petitioner Munir Ahmed had already filed a similar petition in the Islamabad High Court, which had dismissed it. The petitioner allegedly concealed this fact from the Lahore High Court.
Advocate Azhar Siddique argued that the petition in the Islamabad High Court was not filed by the same petitioner.
However, the decision states that Advocate Azhar Siddique admitted to representing the petitioner in the Islamabad High Court. He failed to clarify where in the current petition the previous case before the Islamabad High Court was mentioned.
It was found that Advocate Siddique had concealed information regarding the previous petition when filing the current one in the Lahore High Court. He claimed to be unaware of any judicial order in the Islamabad case. But he was shown the court order from the Islamabad High Court where his appearance was officially recorded.
The judgement also noted that Advocate Siddique stated the Islamabad High Court’s order had not been challenged in the Supreme Court. After reviewing the entire record, the Lahore High Court found the petition non-maintainable due to the same matter having been previously filed in the Islamabad High Court.
The court dismissed the petition.
