LAHORE (Muhammad Ashfaq) - The Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi Bench has ruled that when a special tribunal is required by law to enforce a legal right, the government’s failure to establish it within the prescribed period cannot deprive a citizen of that right.
The court set aside an order dismissing a defamation claim on limitation grounds and remanded the case to the relevant tribunal for a decision on merit.
A two-member bench comprising Justice Mirza Waqas Rauf and Justice Anwar Hussain announced the verdict while allowing an appeal filed by Muhammad Farooq Malik. The appellant had challenged an order issued by the Rawalpindi Defamation Tribunal on January 13, 2026, dismissing his claim as time-barred under the Punjab Defamation Act 2024.
According to the judgment, the appellant became aware of the alleged defamation in April 2025. Although the Punjab Defamation Act had already come into force, special tribunals to hear defamation cases had not yet been established.
The appellant approached a regular civil court on July 28, 2025, seeking damages. The judgment noted that the Punjab government subsequently established defamation tribunals through a notification dated September 22, 2025, and defined their territorial jurisdiction.
On November 6, 2025, the civil court returned the claim, directing the appellant to approach the competent forum. After obtaining a certified copy of the order, the appellant filed his claim before the Defamation Tribunal on November 13, 2025. However, the tribunal dismissed it on the grounds that the limitation period had expired.
The high court observed that when the appellant initially approached the civil court to protect his rights, the legally authorised special tribunal did not exist. Following the tribunal’s establishment, he approached the relevant forum without unnecessary delay.
In these circumstances, the court held, dismissing the claim solely because it had been filed before the special tribunal after the prescribed limitation period was not justified.
The judgment further stated that the Constitution guarantees access to justice, a fair hearing and protection of legal rights. When the state grants a legal right and establishes a special forum to enforce it but fails to set up that forum in time, a citizen should not suffer because of the administrative delay, particularly when the citizen has approached an available judicial forum within the prescribed period.
The court clarified that its ruling did not abolish statutory limitation periods. Instead, it addressed exceptional circumstances in which the legally competent special forum was not available. The law, it observed, cannot require a person to follow a procedure that was impossible to pursue at the relevant time.
Allowing Muhammad Farooq Malik’s appeal, the Lahore High Court set aside the tribunal’s January 13, 2026, order and remanded the matter for a decision on the merits of the defamation claim in accordance with the law.