ISLAMABAD: The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) has issued a comprehensive set of guiding principles directing civil and revenue courts nationwide to exercise greater diligence in cases involving the property and inheritance rights of minors, marking a significant step toward strengthening legal protections for vulnerable parties in litigation.
In a detailed judgement authored by Chief Justice Aminuddin Khan, a three-member bench also comprising Justice Ali Baqar Najafi and Justice Syed Arshad Hussain Shah ruled that courts must identify at the very outset of proceedings whether any litigant is a minor, and thereafter strictly adhere to Order XXXII of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, which governs suits involving minors.
The ruling arose from a long-running property dispute in Bahawalnagar, where a widow, Bushra Bibi, had contested a compromise decree on the grounds that minors involved in the settlement had not been afforded adequate legal safeguards.ย
While a revisional court had initially sided with her in 2017, the Lahore High Court’s Bahawalpur Bench reversed that decision in December 2024. The FCC has now set aside the High Court’s order and reinstated the revisional court’s findings, once again affirming the rights of the minor children and a parda nasheen woman involved in the case.
Among the newly issued guidelines, the court held that guardians appointed for minors must have no conflicts of interest, and that any compromise affecting a minor’s property must be independently verified by the court as lawful and in the child’s best interests.ย
Courts have also been instructed to apply heightened scrutiny in cases involving illiterate or otherwise vulnerable parties, and to avoid hasty rulings that could compromise the welfare of minors.
The court remarked that a judicial decree cannot validate an agreement inherently flawed under law, underscoring its intent to reinforce accountability across Pakistan’s judicial system.
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