3. There are essentially two levels of courts in the
district judiciary with an intricate hierarchy
1. Civil court
It was established under the west Pakistan Civil
Court Ordinance 1962
2. Criminal court
It was established under Code of Criminal
Procedure 1898
High Court of Pakistan
4. Under section 3 of the Ordinance recognizes the
following categories :
- District Court
- Additional District Court
- Civil Judge
- Any other civil Judge established under any other
enactment for the time being in force
Civil Court
5. There are :
-Civil Judge Class 1
- Civil Judge Class 2
- Civil Judge Class 3
Categories of Civil Judge
6. There are slight differences in the structure of District
Civil Court in the Province of Punjab, KPK, and Sindh.
In Punjab,
Civil Judge Class 3
- Limited Jurisdiction
- Can take up property suits worth up to Rs. 100.000
Civil Judge Class 2
- Limited Jurisdiction
- Can take up property suits worth up to Rs. 500.000
Civil Judge Class 1
-Unlimited Jurisdiction
-Can take up the property cases regardless of their worth
Jurisdiction of Civil Judge
7. - Appeal against the decision of Civil Judge lies to the
District Judge
- If the value of the suit is 2.5 Millions or more, then
the appeal is made to the high court
- Appeal against the decision of District Judge is
made to the High Court
- And then to the Supreme Court if permitted by the
High Court or Supreme Court
- In Karachi, if the value of a civil suit is more than 3
millions rupees, the case should be brought to High
Court
8. Under section 6 of the Code of Criminal Procedure
(Cr. P.C.), the classes of criminal courts are as follows :
- Court of Session
- Court of Magistrate
- Such other court as maybe constituted under any
law other than Cr. P.C.
Criminal Court
9. Under Section 12 and 14 Cr.P.C.
High Court
Session Judge/ Additional Session Judge
Assistant Session Judge/Magistrate
10. Under section 6 of the Cr. P.C., the categories of
Magistrates are given below :
- Magistrate of the First Class
- Magistrate of the Second Class
- Magistrate of the Third Class
11. - A Session Judge and Additional Session Judge may
pass any sentence authorized by law subject to the
condition that a sentence of death passed by any
such judge is subject to the high court
- An assistant Session Judge may pass any sentence
authorized by law, except a sentence of death, or
imprisonment for term not more than 7 years
Jurisdiction of Magistrates
12. Under section 32 Cr.P.C., magistrates may pass the
following sentences, namely :
- Court of Magistrates First Class
- Improsonment maximally 3 years
- Fine not more than 45.000 Rupees
- Court of Magistrates Second Class
- Imprisonment maximally 1 year
- Fine not more than 15.000 Rupees
- Court of Magistrate Third Class
- Imprisonment maximally 1 month
- Fine not more than 3.000 Rupees
13. In some provinces, the court of Civil Judge and Magistrate
may be one and the same
But not for in Punjab, it has been decided in principle to
separate criminal, civil and family court.
Appeal against the decision of Magistrates lies to Session
Judge
Appeal against the decision of Session Judge lies to the
high court
Appeal against the decision of High Court lies to Supreme
Court.
14. There are numerous tribunals within the Pakistani Legal
System
Such as : Service Tribunal, Income Tax Appellate
Tribunal,Insurrance Appelate Tribunal, Environmental
Tribunals, etc.
There are numerous special courts such as Special Court
(Control of Narcotic Substances), Banking Courts
(Recovery of Loan), Special Court (Offences in Bank),
Special Court (Customs, Taxation & Anti-Smuggling), Drugs
Court, Anti-Terrorism Courts etc.
Tribunals
15. Typical Tribunal consists of a chairman, who is legally
qualified, 2 members who are called technical
members.
Appeal against the decisions of Provincial services
Tribunals and the Federal Services Tribunals lie to
Supreme Court