Pakistan’s Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) has ruled that repeatedly bringing the same dispute before courts constitutes an abuse of the judicial process, emphasising that final judgments cannot be reopened unless fraud, an error or lack of jurisdiction is established.
The ruling came in a land ownership dispute involving the construction of a girls’ school in Bhakkar district, Punjab.
A two-member bench comprising Justice Rozi Khan Barrech and Justice Syed Arshad Hussain Shah upheld the Lahore High Court’s decision and dismissed a petition seeking permission to appeal filed by the legal heirs of Anwari Bibi.
Justice Arshad Hussain Shah authored the detailed judgment, which stressed that the finality of judicial decisions is essential for maintaining legal certainty and upholding the rule of law.
The petitioners had maintained that the girls’ school was constructed on land belonging to their family and sought to challenge earlier decisions concerning the property’s ownership and distribution.
However, the court observed that the dispute had already been conclusively settled through previous proceedings, including decisions by the relevant land consolidation authorities.
The bench ruled that an executing court cannot exceed the scope of an existing decree or alter rights already determined through a final judgment.
It further held that parties cannot use execution proceedings to reopen disputes that have already been adjudicated.
The FCC emphasised that allowing repeated litigation over settled matters would undermine the authority of judicial decisions and create unnecessary uncertainty in the legal system.
The court consequently refused permission to appeal, reaffirming that final judgments must be respected except where legally recognised grounds for reopening them have been established.