How to Draft a Writ Petition under Article 199

What to know first

The usual threshold objection to a writ petition is that the petitioner had an adequate alternate remedy. A petition that does not plead the absence of one expressly invites dismissal without the court reaching the merits, so the draft pleads it as its own section.

Facts you need before drafting

• The court: the High Court of the province concerned.
• The parties: full names, parentage and addresses of both sides.
• The authority or department impugned: the public functionary whose act is challenged.
• The impugned action or order: the order, its date, and why it is said to be without lawful authority.
• The relief sought, stated exactly.
• The limitation position, if available.

Sections, in order

1. Cause title: petitioner versus the authority and the Federation or Province.
2. A title naming the impugned order and its date.
3. Brief facts, numbered.
4. The impugned action, and why it is without lawful authority and of no legal effect.
5. Grounds, lettered.
6. Absence of an adequate alternate remedy, pleaded expressly.
7. Prayer.
8. Affidavit, and the certificate that no such petition was filed earlier.
9. Annexures.

How FAI drafts it

FAI Legal Research Assistant fills a reviewed template from your facts instead of writing from scratch. It asks for facts you have not given rather than inventing them, and it cites only sections and judgments it has in its record. The output is a first draft for an advocate to settle and file. The free plan includes 10 drafts a month, and downloads as PDF or Word are on the paid plans.

What a template does not do

• It does not tell you whether a writ is available on your facts or whether another remedy is open to you. That is the advocate's judgment.
• It cannot know your province or the right bench, so you supply them.
• It does not attach or index your annexures. You supply the documents.
• It is not legal advice and does not replace an advocate. An advocate must settle every document before it is filed or served.
• It cannot know your province, forum or facts unless you give them, and it cannot infer a date.
• It does not file or serve anything, and it does not work out court fees, stamp duty or limitation for you.

Related

• How to verify a Pakistani case citation

Frequently asked

Which court hears an Article 199 petition?

The High Court of the province concerned.

What do most writ petitions have to plead early?

The absence of an adequate alternate remedy, because it is the usual threshold objection.