LAHORE: Punjab and Balochistan have opposed a federal proposal to make high courts the only forum to appeal against civil court decisions, official sources said on Wednesday.

Punjab believed that the proposal, if implemented, would overburden high courts and bring down their stature, besides rendering district courts underused, officials said.

The proposal, which seeks to amend the Code of Civil Procedure, came under consideration during a recent meeting of the federal law reforms committee.

Balochistan, on the other hand, believed the proposal could only work in Islamabad, and not in the country’s largest province where most people were poor and could not hire costly lawyers or travel long distances to superior courts.—Staff Reporter