ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted final relief to a woman in an inheritance property dispute and directed the implementation of its 2022 judgment.
A three-member bench — comprising Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Malik Shahzad and Justice Salahuddin Panhwar — announced the judgment. The apex court also rejected the opposing party’s application seeking review of the order.
The court expressed serious concern over non-compliance with judicial orders, observing that the judicial system rested on confidence, discipline and respect for the sanctity of court orders and that compliance with judicial directions was mandatory in all circumstances.
It observed that treating a concession granted by a court as merely a procedural formality was regrettable.
According to the judgment, a conditional adjournment had been granted in the review proceedings on March 4, 2024. At the subsequent hearing on September 12, another adjournment was sought, following which the review petition was dismissed for non-prosecution. The court held that recalling the order dismissing the review petition would effectively amount to recalling its March 4, 2024 order. The court observed that treating its indulgence as a mere procedural formality by litigants or their counsel amounted to disregarding the seriousness and sanctity of judicial orders.
According to the case record, the father of Zaitoon Bibi, a resident of Dera Ismail Khan, died in 1976 after which the family deprived her of due share in the inherited property. The Supreme Court directed the implementation of its 2022 judgment and dismissed the application filed by the opposing party. The review petition had already been dismissed in 2024.
In another property dispute case, the court ruled in favour of a widow who migrated to Pakistan from India, holding that the property claimed by the opposing parties had never been owned by her deceased husband. Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail authored the judgment, in which the apex court observed that it was an admitted fact that Abdul Karim had died before the creation of Pakistan.
