High Court registrar's negligence leads to retrial
Justice Mazeed's opinion expressed dissatisfaction over the case having reached the judges.
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By
Aman Haleem
After the High Court had ruled in a case related to family child support, an administrative lapse has led to an opportunity to file an appeal in the same court on the same case for the second time.
The High Court had in March 2021 upheld the family court's verdict in a case, which was challenged at the high court by a person who was not satisfied with the family court's verdict.
The second appeal was filed after high court judges allowed it in February 2022, when the first verdict was nearing a year.
The high court required a judge's permission to process the second appeal on the basis that the application came to the court after the expiry of the appeal period. The reason for the appeal was to correct a number error in the family court ruling.
The judges allowed the appeal, but the fact that the permission was granted without the knowledge that it was a previously adjudicated case was noted in the second judgement.
Justice Hussain Mazeed wrote in his judgement that there was no place to proceed with the appeal at the High Court:
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the impugned appeal was allowed since the previous appeal had not been recorded
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The appeal form for the case should not have even been submitted to the judges
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Registrar should have been aware that the matter was re-appealed and heard before and the application should have been rejected
Justice Mazeed's opinion expressed dissatisfaction over the case having reached the judges. He wrote that had the registrar performed his duties properly in the case, the time and resources of the court and those involved in the case could have been saved.
"Had the registrar performed his duties in this case in a proper manner, the time and resources of the court, as well as the time and resources of the people who are involved in the case, would have been saved," Mazeed had written.
Justice Hussain Shaheed and Justice Farheeza, who were part of the high court bench that heard the case, supported Mazeed's view.
A case ruled by a court can be re-appealed either by going to a higher court, which can order the lower court to look into the matter again, or to re-appeal the lower court's verdict in a case where a higher court has ordered an investigation.
