Maintenance for parents

The recent ruling by the Lahore High Court, affirming that dependent parents have the right to file maintenance suits against their children is a significant step in ensuring that older people do not become destitute, but the ruling also creates an opening for bad actors to abuse, while adding ambiguity to the law. This is because the court's reasoning appears to be based on morality, rather than the letter of the law, and while the concept of a child supporting their parents may seem heartwarming, not every parent actually needs, or deserves, support.

Courts are universally acknowledged to have a duty to interpret the law, but not to fall into judicial activism. Unfortunately, Pakistan has a long history of populist judicial activism backfiring, from the cancellation of government contracts with MNCs leading to multibillion-dollar penalties on the state to inexplicable charity dam-building schemes - all while case backlogs in the highest courts continue to expand.

In most countries that formally recognise filial responsibility, several financial and health-related conditions must be met by everyone involved, and there are hard limits to what the children can be required to provide. These conditions and limits are set by legislators, and then interpreted by courts. In the current case, however, the court has opined that morally and Islamically, maintenance should be presumed to apply to parents. We agree on both counts, but every mention of the term in the law only refers to spouses and children.

So while the ruling does align with the principle of filial responsibility, it raises a very important question of whether a court can punish someone for doing something that is morally abhorrent, but perfectly legal. Just as a judge cannot annul a marriage between a 19-year-old and a 90-year-old because of the morally repugnant age difference, it should not force a child to provide for their parents unless it is explicitly mentioned in the law. While the case continues to make its way through the courts, we hope lawmakers can provide a legal framework that would end debate on filial responsibility in our legal system.