LHC imposes fine over frivolous litigation

Lahore High Court’s Justice Muhammad Masood Jahangir has imposed a fine of Rs200,000 on a man for dragging a widow and his child in frivolous property litigation for decades and levelling allegations regarding her character.

Justice Masood Jahangir observed that the property owners were entangled in baseless litigation, depriving them of the fruits of their belongings for decades. He remarked that the allegation by the petitioner of illicit relationship was mala fide and aimed at prolonging his unauthorised possession of property.

An amended written statement of the petitioner during the trial defied the modesty of an old widow, which also undermined the personality of her son, while calling him an illegitimate child, and for it they have every right to independently proceed under the law against the petitioner, the judge observed.

The petitioner Muhammad Illyas wanted to occupy a house of Mumtaz Baigum after the death of his uncle and her husband Ghulam Muhammad, alleging that it had been gifted to him by his late uncle. The widow claimed that the house had been transferred by the settlement department to her husband who died on September 5, 1989 and as a consequence it was inherited by them, being widow and minor son of the deceased.

“The petitioner under his greed, firstly by managing a forged memo of gift and then while asserting baseless allegation prolonged his unlawful possession over the property and dragged the widow and her orphan child in frivolous litigation, while wasting the precious time of the courts as well, who has no case at merit, hence civil revision is dismissed,” the order stated.

The petitioner after the death of his uncle filed a civil suit on November 21, 1992, without involving the widow and her son, claiming that the house stood already transferred to him by the deceased through an unregistered memo of gift on June 18, 1989. He obtained an ex-parte decree.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 30^th, 2020.