Proceedings before Family Court

Exclusion of normal rules of procedure and proof, applicable in civil plenary jurisdiction for adjudication of disputes in proceedings before a Family Court, was essentially designed to circumvent delays in disposal of sustenance claims by the vulnerable; this did not derogate its status as a Court nor took 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 ran pure and clean; such intendment was 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, there was no clog on the authority of a Family Court to re-examine 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 Family Courts Act, 1964 it could borrow the procedure from available avenues, chartered by law.

Provisions of Civil Procedure Code, 1908 and Qanun-e-Shahadat, 1984 were not applicable to the proceedings before the Family Court except Ss.10 & 11 of Civil Procedure Code, 1908.

Party denying its liability, on basis of such rule, could not be burdened to shoulder claim against him/her without its proof.

S. 270 (1) (2)-" Pro­ceedings civil or criminal "-Courts-Martial-Proceedings before-Not covered by section. Clearly proceedings before a Court-Martial are not " civil proceedings ", but it is conceded that they may well come within the description of " criminal proceedings " in a suitable context. Their Lordships, however, agreed with the view of the Federal Court that in section 270 (1) the phrase "proceedings civil or criminal " " indicates only the civil or criminal pro­ceedings capable of being instituted under the ordinary law of the land " and does not include proceedings under the military law.