There is difference between Power of Attorney and Will
PLJ 2008 Karachi 121 · Sindh High Court
This case involved a property dispute in Karachi. A father had given his son an irrevocable General Power of Attorney, allowing the son to deal with a plot of land. The son sold the property to a buyer (the applicant in this case) for Rs. 36,000, and the buyer built on it and took a bank loan against it. Later, the father claimed he had actually intended the document to be a "will," not a power of attorney, and that he had since cancelled it. He filed a suit for declaration, cancellation, and possession, and won at the appellate level, with the buyer being dispossessed without ever having been properly notified of the case.
The Sindh High Court overturned that decision. It clarified a fundamental legal distinction: a power of attorney and a will are completely different instruments. A power of attorney authorizes an agent to act on someone's behalf during their lifetime, while a will only takes effect after death. The document in question was clearly meant to operate during the father's lifetime, so it was a valid, functioning power of attorney, not a will. The court also noted that the alleged "cancellation" was neither signed by the attorney (the son) nor properly registered, making it legally ineffective.
As a result, the son's sale of the property was valid, and the buyer's ownership and possession were restored. The case matters because it reinforces that powers of attorney and wills serve distinct legal purposes and cannot be reinterpreted after the fact to undo transactions already carried out in good faith.
یہ مقدمہ کراچی میں جائیداد کے ایک تنازعے سے متعلق تھا۔ ایک باپ نے اپنے بیٹے کو ایک ناقابلِ تنسیخ جنرل پاور آف اٹارنی دی تھی، جس کے تحت بیٹے کو ایک پلاٹ سے متعلق معاملات نمٹانے کا اختیار حاصل تھا۔ بیٹے نے یہ جائیداد ایک خریدار (اس مقدمے میں درخواست گزار) کو 36,000 روپے میں فروخت کر دی، اور خریدار نے اس پر تعمیر کی اور اس کے عوض بینک سے قرضہ بھی حاصل کیا۔ بعد ازاں باپ نے یہ دعویٰ کیا کہ دراصل اس کی منشا یہ تھی کہ یہ دستاویز ایک "وصیت نامہ" ہو، نہ کہ پاور آف اٹارنی، اور یہ کہ اس نے اس دستاویز کو منسوخ بھی کر دیا تھا۔ اس نے اعلانِ حق، منسوخی اور قبضے کے حصول کے لیے دعویٰ دائر کیا اور اپیلیٹ سطح پر مقدمہ جیت گیا، جس کے نتیجے میں خریدار کو، بغیر کسی مناسب نوٹس کے، قبضے سے بے دخل کر دیا گیا۔
سندھ ہائی کورٹ نے اس فیصلے کو کالعدم قرار دیا۔ عدالت نے ایک بنیادی قانونی فرق واضح کیا: پاور آف ا