Expeditious settlement and disposal of disputes relating to marriage and family affairs and for matters connected therewith

The Family Court Act 1964 (W.P. Act XXXV of 1964) (the Act) was enacted for “…… expeditious settlement and disposal of disputes relating to marriage and family affairs and for matters connected therewith”; provisions of the Qanun-e-Shahadat Order, 1984 (P.O. No.10 of 1984) and those of the Code except sections 10 and 11 have been excluded to achieve the legislative intent. The exclusion of normal rules of procedure and proof, applicable in civil plenary jurisdiction for adjudication of disputes in proceedings before a Family Court, is essentially designed to circumvent delays in disposal of sustenance claims by the vulnerable; this does not derogate its status as a Court nor takes away its inherent jurisdiction to protect its orders and decrees from the taints of fraud and misrepresentation as such powers must vest in every tribunal to ensure that stream of justice runs pure and clean; such intendment is important yet for another reason, as at times, adjudications by a Family Court may involve decisions with far reaching implications/consequences for a spouse or a sibling and, thus, there must exist a mechanism to recall or rectify outcome of any sinister or oblique manipulation, therefore, we find no clog on the authority of a Family Court to reexamine its earlier decision with a view to secure the ends of justice and prevent abuse of its jurisdiction and for the said purpose, in the absence of any express prohibition in the Act, it can borrow the procedure from available avenues, chartered by law.

Impact of fraud practiced upon tribunals exercising plenary or limited jurisdictions, respectively, cannot be procedurally classified as in all jurisdictions it unredeemedly vitiates the very solemnity of adjudication, a wrong that cannot be countenanced and must be remedied through dynamic application of equitable principles of law and such approach has been approved by this Court in a good number of cases arising out of erstwhile rent laws that too excluded wholesale application of the Code.

Recourse to plenary jurisdiction as suggested by the learned counsel for the respondent would be a journey into a blind alley as in the face of a final decree by the Family Court, holding the field, the proposed course would inevitably lead to a chaotic collusion, if at all the petitioner ever succeed. Therefore, in the circumstances, reconsideration/reexamination of the impugned judgment and decree by the learned Family Court is the only expedient option, conducive to the interest of the contestants.

Civil Petition No.1530 of 2019
Muhammad Arshad Anjum Versus Mst. Khurshid Begum & others