Law: Constitution of Pakistan, 1973

Section: 199, 199(5), 175, 192

Law: West Pakistan Civil Courts Ordinance, (II of 1962)

Section: 3, 5, 6, 12A, 1908

Law: Code Of Civil Procedure, 1908.

Section: 9, 2(4)

Law: General Clauses Act, 1897

Section: 3(15),

Law: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Consumers Protection Act, (VI of 1997)

Section: 11A

SUMMARY In the framework of our jurisprudence, a “Special Court” is a tribunal of limited and exclusive jurisdiction, established by a specific statutory enactment to adjudicate distinct categories of cases that lie outside the general domain of ordinary civil courts. While the term is not explicitly defined in a single statute, its nature is inferred from Article 175 of the Constitution as a forum “established by law,” functioning not through inherent powers but strictly within the “four corners of the jurisdiction” conferred by its enabling statute [Ref: Ghulam Shabbir v. Punjab Special Court 1992 PCr.LJ 1932 Lahore]. Crucially, the creation of such a Special Court acts as an implied bar under Section 9 of CPC, effectively “eclipsing” general civil jurisdiction; as noted by the Apex Court in State Life Insurance v. Sardar Begum [2017 SCMR 999], where a special law provides a separate remedy, general provisions “stand eclipsed.” These courts possess the attributes of a judicial forum—presided over by qualified judges often acting as persona designata rather than in their original capacity [See Ministry of Interior v. Special Court PLD 2020 Islamabad 82—and operate under the maxim generalia specialibus non derogant, meaning their specific procedural mandates prevail over general civil procedure [Ref: M/s Frontier Foundry Steel v. NEPRA 2025 MLD 26 Islamabad]. Thus, a Special Court is an exclusive adjudicatory body where the “ouster of jurisdiction” of general courts is a necessary consequence of its establishment to deal with rights and liabilities unknown to the common law. It is settled law that a Special Court, being a creature of statute, cannot ordinarily extend its jurisdiction beyond the scope of the law creating it. As held in Inayat Ali v. The State [1992 PCr.LJ 1485 Lahore], it is a court of “limited jurisdiction,” and any attempt to exercise powers not expressly conferred would be ultra vires. However, the insertion of Section 12A introduces a novel legal paradigm. By employing the fiction of law through the “deeming clause” in sub-section (3),…