LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has observed that the summons in civil suits involving summary proceedings need to be bilingual i.e. in English and Urdu languages.

The purpose of such a summons is to convey a summary of the claim against a defendant, inform him of his entitlement to apply for leave to appear and defend the suit, warn him of the urgency in moving such an application within the limitation period of 10 days as well as of the consequences of his default, says Justice Raheel Kamran Sheikh in a verdict.

Such content attempts to satisfy one of the essential requirements of the fundamental right to fair trial, he adds.

The judge observes that a summons assumes that the defendant served is able to read English or that he has assistance available to him to convey the content of the same, which is questionable as majority of the people in our society are unable to read English or may not have such assistance available to them. Resultantly, he maintains, the purpose of the summons currently prescribed runs an obvious risk of being defeated.

Says Urdu is needed for fair trial

Justice Sheikh observes that the notion that this type of summons satisfies the requirement of fair trial right is more of a fiction, which is permissible only if actual summons in a language that the recipient can understand is not feasible.

“Right to fair trial is a fundamental right guaranteed to all and not just English literate persons in this society,” he adds.

The judge notes that the Supreme Court as well as the LHC, to facilitate access to justice and ensure fair trial right, have already adopted the practice of serving various notices in Urdu language.

The judge has directed the registrar office to send a copy of the judgement to the federal law secretary and the law secretary of Punjab for appropriate action in this regard.

The verdict came on a civil revision petition filed by Amar Jeet Singh against Sant Singh of Nankana Sahib. A district court had closed the right of the petitioner for leave to defend a suit filed by the respondent. The LHC allowed the civil revision of Amar Jeet Singh.

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2021