Constitution 1973 § Article 198 — Seat of the High Court

Statutory text (English)

2[(l)] Each High Court in existence immediately before the
commencing day shall continue to have its principal seat at the place where it had such seat before that day.
3[(1A) The High Court for Islamabad Capital Territory shall have its principal seat at Islamabad.]
4[
(2) Each High Court and the Judges and divisional courts thereof shall sit at its principal seat and
the seats of its Benches and may hold, at any place within its territorial jurisdiction, circuit courts consisting
of such of the Judges as may be nominated by the Chief Justice.

(3) The Lahore High Court shall have a Bench each at Bahawalpur, Multan and Rawalpindi; the
High Court of Sindh shall have a Bench at Sukkur; the Peshawar High Court shall have a Bench each at
Abbottabad 5[, Mingora] and Dera Ismail Khan and the High Court of Balochistan shall have a Bench at
Sibi 6[and Turbat.]

(4) Each of the High Courts may have Benches at such other places as the Governor may determine
on the advice of the Cabinet and in consultation with the Chief Justice of the High Court.

(5) A Bench referred to in clause

(3), or established under clause

(4), shall consist of such of the
Judges of the High Court as may be nominated by the Chief Justice from time to time for a period of not
less than one year.

(6) The Governor in consultation with the Chief Justice of the High Court shall make rules to
provide the following matters, that is to say,—
(a) assigning the area in relation to which each Bench shall exercise jurisdiction vested
in the High Court; and
(b) for all incidental, supplemental or consequential matters.]

Source and verification

Source citation: Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973, Art. 198: Pakistan Code portal consolidated official PDF 'THE CONSTITUTION OF THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF PAKISTAN' (incl. 26th Amdt Act 2024 & 27th Amdt Act 2025), p. 93, ingested 2026-09-15. Automated transcription from official source (pypdf extraction, audited artifact repair); human admin re-check required before production.

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Official Urdu text status: pending_official_urdu_text. Where official Urdu wording has not been sourced, Qanoon does not substitute an unverified translation for the statutory text.

Historical text notes

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• Date not confirmed: Consolidated current text as published in the official Pakistan Code PDF (p. 93) — reflects all amendments recorded in the official footnotes up to ingest date 2026-09-15. Automated transcription; per-amendment version…

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