Mst. Bibi Zohra and 7 others V. Habib-Ur-Rehman and 12 others,
MLD 2015 1807 · Balochistan High Court
This case concerned a family property dispute among the heirs of a deceased man, Gul Muhammad, who died in 1993. He left behind two sons and two daughters. After his death, the sons recorded the property solely in their own names through inheritance mutations, later selling part of it to another person. The daughters' children (the plaintiffs) claimed they were being paid their rightful share of rent/income from the property for years, but only discovered in 2012 that the mutations had excluded their mothers' shares through alleged fraud and misrepresentation. They sued for a declaration of ownership, cancellation of the fraudulent mutations, and partition of the property.
The defendants argued the suit was filed too late and that the daughters had accepted cash payments instead of a share in the property, so the plaintiffs were barred by their own prior conduct (estoppel) and limitation law.
The Balochistan High Court upheld the trial court's decision in favor of the plaintiffs. It held that since the defendants themselves admitted they had been regularly paying shares to the daughters and later their children, this admission defeated any claim of estoppel. The court also ruled that the 12-year limitation period for claiming a share in joint family property starts running only from exclusion from the property, and since the mutations were products of fraud, no limitation period could protect them. The daughters were confirmed as rightful co-owners.
This case reaffirms that fraudulent property transfers remain challengeable regardless of time lapse, and that family admissions of shared ownership carry strong legal weight.
یہ مقدمہ ایک متوفی شخص گل محمد کے ورثاء کے مابین خاندانی جائیداد کے تنازع سے متعلق ہے، جو 1993 میں وفات پا گئے تھے۔ ان کے پیچھے دو بیٹے اور دو بیٹیاں تھیں۔ ان کی وفات کے بعد بیٹوں نے جائیداد کو وراثتی انتقالات کے ذریعے صرف اپنے نام پر درج کروا لیا اور بعد میں اس کا کچھ حصہ ایک تیسرے شخص کو فروخت کر دیا۔ بیٹیوں کی اولاد (مدعیان) کا موقف تھا کہ انہیں سالہا سال سے جائیداد کے کرائے یا آمدنی میں ان کا جائز حصہ ادا کیا جاتا رہا، مگر انہیں 2012 میں یہ معلوم ہوا کہ مبینہ دھوکہ دہی اور غلط بیانی کے ذریعے انتقالات میں ان کی ماؤں کے حصے خارج کر دیے گئے تھے۔ انہوں نے ملکیت کے اعلان، جعلی انتقالات کی منسوخی، اور جائیداد کی تقسیم کے لیے دعویٰ دائر کیا۔
مدعا علیہان کا موقف تھا کہ دعویٰ وقتِ مقررہ کے بعد دائر کیا گیا اور بیٹیوں نے جائیداد میں حصے کے بجائے نقد رقم قبول کر لی تھی، لہٰذا مدعیان اپنے سابقہ طرزِ عمل (است