The Supreme Court of Pakistan has recently held in case C.P.2712/2020 tiled as Zakir Mehmood Versus Secretary of Ministry of Defense that Federal Service Tribunal under the provisions of CPC made applicable to it has power to impose special cost. The Court held that as the Tribunal exists within the territorial limits of the Islamabad so Cost of Litigation Act, 2015 is applicable to it. This said act was introduced into C.P.C to the extent of Islamabad only to curb the menace of false and frivolous litigation and help the judges cleanse the docket of courts. At the end of the order the Court emphasized and urged the subordinate courts to “…regularly exercise their powers to impose reasonable costs to curb the practice of instituting frivolous and vexatious cases by unscrupulous litigants, which has unduly burdened their dockets with a heavy pendency of cases, thereby clogging the whole justice system. The possibility of being made liable to pay costs is a sufficient deterrence to make a litigant think twice before putting forth a false or vexatious claim or defence before court…”
c.p._2712_2020
