SHC calls for setting up commercial courts in province.

KARACHI -- The Sindh High Court called for setting up commercial courts in the province, particularly in Karachi, to address the grievances of litigants with regard to trade disputes and to reduce the backlog of cases from higher judiciary. A two-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Ahmed Ali M. Shaikh and Justice Yousuf Ali Sayeed made these observations while disposing of two petitions filed against curtailment of pecuniary jurisdiction of district courts in Karachi.

The bench ruled that commercial courts had already been established in Punjab on an initiative of the Lahore High Court and there was no reason as to why such 'a salutary step may not be taken in this province'. The commercial courts in Punjab were established in 2021 following promulgation of the Punjab Commercial Courts Ordinance, 2021.

'Indeed, in view of its history, the Original Side could readily be restructured as a commercial court, subject of course to suitable definition of what constitutes a 'commercial case' and a 'commercial dispute', with the jurisdiction to hear commercial suits above a pecuniary threshold.

'As in the Punjab, a network of courts could then also be established at the district level in Karachi (subject to a pecuniary limit) and at such other locations where the need is determined, without that pecuniary limitation,' it added. In its verdict, the bench said that the need for commercial courts had been recognised since long as the same was observed in a report prepared by the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan (LJCP) at the time of enhancement of the pecuniary limit from Rs500,000 to Rs3 million in 2002.

Currently, the pecuniary jurisdiction of subordinate judiciary of Karachi is at Rs65m, which was enhanced in December 2021 from Rs15m. The bench directed the provincial government to give immediate consideration to the overwhelming pendency of civil cases at the high court and to eliminate the exception to the pecuniary jurisdiction of district judiciary of Karachi. It was pointed out in the petitions such a curtailment was discriminatory as such pecuniary jurisdiction was otherwise unlimited across Sindh and in fact throughout the country.

Also, the Sindh Bar Council, Sindh High Court Bar Association, Karachi Bar Association and Malir Bar Association all unequivocally supported the conferment of unlimited pecuniary jurisdiction upon the district judiciary at Karachi.

As the per a report of...