PLJ 2024 Quetta 166
Present : IQBAL AHMED KASI, J.
DAD MUHAMMAD and 4 others --Petitioners
versus
NATIONAL DATABASE & REGISTRATION AUTHORITY through Director General
NADRA Quetta --Respondent
C.R.P. No. 88 of 2023, decided on 18.9.2023.
Specific Relief Act, 1877 (I of 1877) --
----Ss. 42, 54 & 55--Suit for declaration permanent and
mandatory injunction--Decreed --Appeal --Allowed --Validity --Request for issuance of CNIC --
Request was declined by NADRA --Question of whether petitioners were bona fide Pakistani
Citizens and entitled for issuance of CNIC in their favour or otherwise --Petitioners were
recorded owners --Documentary evidence revealed that petitioners were recorded owners of
immovable properties --The petitioners produced documents prior to year 1979, thus, they proved
to be citizens of Pakistan bona fidely and were entitled for issuance of CNICs in their favour, as
per Notification --A State cannot adopt policies which will have effect of even inadvertently
rendering a person stateless --The Citizenship Act and Citizenship Rules and statutory safeguards
prescribed therein are consistent with mandate of Constitution and international obligations --
Citizenship is so precious a right that cannot be taken away in a reckless or perfunctory manner --
Civil revision allowed.
[Pp. 170, 171 & 172] A, B & D
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948--
----Art. 15--Right of nationality--Everyone has right of nationality--No one shall be arbitrarily
deprived of his nationality nor denied right to change his nationality. [P. 172] C
Syed Najab- ud-Din Agha & Abdul Shakoor Baloch, Advocates for Petitioners.
Mr. Zubair Naseem Khawaja, Law Officer, NADRA for Respondent.
Date of hearing: 4.9.2023.
JUDGMENT
Through the instant Civil Revision Petition under Section 115 C.P.C., the petitioners have
challenged the validity of the judgment and decree dated 22.02.2023 (“the impugned judgment
and decree”) passed by the learned Additional District Judge -II, Quetta (“the appellate
Court”) , whereby the appeal filed by the respondent/defendant was allowed, the judgment and
decree dated 08.11.2022, passed by the Civil Judge -IX, Quetta (“the trial Court”) was set aside
and the suit of the petitioner/plaintiff bearing No. 50 of 2022, was dismissed.
2. Briefly stated facts of the case are that the petitioners/ plaintiffs filed a suit for declaration,
issuance of CNICs, mandatory and permanent injunction against the respondent/defendant, with the averments that they are Pakistani citizens and their forefathers were having their landed
properties in the year 1965- 66. It is further averred that the uncle of petitioners/plaintiffs,
namely, Dost Muhammad son of Sher Muhammad filed a suit bearing No. 23 of 2016 and
obtained decree from the Court of Civil Judge -VIII, Quetta, consequence whereof, he was issued
CNIC by the respondent/ defendant, however, the petitioners/plaintiffs approached the respondent/defendant with regard to issuance of CNICs, their request was declined, lastly, they prayed for a decree in their favour in the following terms:
“A. Declare that the plaintiffs being tribesmen of Mashwani are genuine Pakistani citizens
and the defendant has got no authority to withheld their CNICs.
B. Direct the defendant that within an immediate effect register the names of plaintiffs in its
record and issue them CNICs according to law and to exclude block from their CNICs (if any).
C. Direct the defendant to issue the CNICs of plaintiffs in the light of inherited land record
prior to 1978 and notification bearing No. 8/37/2016 NADRA dated 19.04.2017.
D. Any other relief which this Hon’ble Court deems fit may kindly be awarded/allowed in
favour of plaintiffs, in the interest of justice, equity and fair play.”
3. The trial Court, after registration of the suit, issued notice to the respondent/defendant to
defend the case, upon which, the representative of respondent/defendant appeared, filed written statement and contested the suit of the petitioners/plaintiffs on legal as well as factual grounds.
4. Out of the divergent pleadings of the parties the following issues were framed issues:
“1. Whether the plaintiffs approached the defendant for issuance of their CNICs?
2. Whether the plaintiffs are bonafide Pakistani Citizens and entitled for the issuance of
CNICs?
3. Whether the plaintiffs are entitled to the relief claimed for?
4. Relief?
5. The petitioners/plaintiffs to support their claim, produced PW -1 Maqbool Ahmed, PW -2
Abdul Wajid, Patwari, PW -3 Abdul Manan, PW -4 Ghous Bakhsh, representative of NADRA,
PW-5 Khuda -e-Rahim, representative of verification cell, Quetta, again PW- 6 Abdul Wajid,
Patwari, and lastly, the petitioners/plaintiffs recorded their statement through attorney Abdul Qadir son of Raz Muhammad. In rebuttal, the representative of respondent/defendant Syed Turab Abbas, representative of NADRA got recorded his statement as DW- 1.
6. The trial Court, after hearing arguments of both the parties, vide judgment dated 08.11.2022, decreed the suit of the petitioners/ plaintiffs in their favour.
7. The respondent/defendant, feeling aggrieved of the judgment and decree of the trial Court,
assailed the same before the appellate Court, who vide impugned judgment and decree dated
22.02.2023, allowed the appeal, as mentioned herein above.
8. Learned counsel for the petitioners contended that the trial Court after proper appreciation of evidence, has passed the judgment and decree in favour of the petitioners, but the appellate Court in a hasty manner, discarded the documentary as well as oral evidence, produced by the petitioners; that the trial Court rightly dilated upon the merits of the case, while relying upon the Notification, issued by the Government of Pakistan, Ministry of Interior, dated 19th April, 2017, and passed the judgment and decree in favour of the petitioners, but the appellate Court, totally overlooked and misinterpreted the same and passed the impugned judgment, which is not maintainable and liable to be set aside.
9. Learned Law Officer, NADRA, while repudiating the contention of the learned counsel for the petitioners, supported the judgment and decree of the appellate Court and contended that the learned appellate Court has passed the impugned judgment and decree, after proper appraisal of the evidence, which is well reasoning and warrant no interference by this Court.
10. I, have heard the learned counsel for the parties and have gone through the record of the case.
The core issue in the matter in hand is that whether the petitioners are bona fide Pakistan citizens and entitled for the issuance of CNICs in their favour or otherwise. Before dilating upon the merits of the instant case, it would be very essential to mention here that the Ministry of Interior, Government of Pakistan, vide Notification No. 8/37/20)6- NADRA, dated 19th April, 2017, in
exercise of powers conferred under Section 47 of the National Database Registration Authority Ordinance of 2000 (VIII of 2000) (‘the Ordinance of 2000’) , on the recommendations of the
Parliamentary Committee, provided a mechanism that the Blocked/Cancelled CNICs, have to be cleared/restored, if the applicant submits one or more of the following documents:
1. Land record registered prior to 1978 (verified by the Revenue Department).
2. Local/Domicile Certificate issued prior to (1978 and verified by the issuing authority).
3. Pedigree table (Shajra- e-Nasab) issued & verified by Revenue Department.
4. Government employment certificate (or of blood relative), employed before 1990.
5. Verified educational certificates (Issued prior to 1978).
6. Passport issued to applicant prior to 1978.
7. Any other document issued by Government of Pakistan prior to 1978 and verified by
issuing authority (including Arms License, Driving License or Manual NIC, issued prior to 1978 duly verified by record)
The Year 1978 mentioned in the above Notification was ordered to be read as 1979 by
making amendment in the above Notification by the Government of Pakistan, Ministry of
Interior, vide Notification dated 03.01.2018.
11. Now adverting to the merits of the case in hand, I, have gone through the entire record and
found that the petitioners/plaintiffs in support of their claim produced oral as well as documentary evidence. It appears that PW- 2 Abdul Wajid, Patwari, the representative of the
Revenue Department produced Khewet No. 18, Khatooni No. 19, Mutation No. 335 as Ex.P/1, Misl-e-Haqiat, pertaining to the year 1965/66 of Sher Muhammad, Allah Noor and Noor Ali sons
of Bazeed as Ex.P/2. Pedigree table pertaining to the year 1965/66 as Ex.P/3 and Ex.P/4. Furthermore, the PW -5 also produced the mutation No. 175 as Ex.P/7.
12. From perusal of the pedigree table of the year 1965- 66, Ex.P/3 and Ex.P/4 it appears that late
Bazeed had three sons, namely, Sher Muhammad (grandfather of petitioners), Allah Noor and Noor Ali, while Ex.P/2 reflects that the sons of Bazeed mentioned supra are recorded owners of the properties through Misl -e-Haqiat pertaining to the year 1965 -66 and mutation No. 175
(Ex.P/7) reveals that the immovable properties of late Sher Muhammad, situated in Mouza Muhammad Khail, Tehsil Panjpai, District Quetta had been mutated on the name of his legal heirs including the father of petitioners i.e . Raz Muhammad, through inheritance mutation dated
08.12.1997, then, after the death of Raz Muhammad, the petitioners being his legal heirs had mutated the above mentioned properties on their names through inheritance mutation in the year 2019 as Ex.P/1. All these documentary evidence reveals that the petitioners are recorded owners of immovable properties, situated at Mouza Muhammad Khail, Tehsil Panjpai, District, Quetta since their forefather i.e . of the year 1965- 66. The petitioners produced documents prior to the
year 1979, thus, they proved to be the citizens of Pakistan bona fidely and are entitled for
issuance of CNICs in their favour, as per Notification supra. Furthermore, some other persons, whose fathers were the heirs of Bazeed (late) and were in blood relation to the present petitioners, namely, Syed Lal Muhammad son of Naik Muhammad, Dost Muhammad son of Sher Muhammad and Qalat Khan son of Allah Noor, also filed separate Civil Suits before the competent Court of law against blockage/cancellation of their respective CNICs, which after taking evidence, were decreed in their favour and the same judgments and decrees also attained finality (Copies of the judgments and decrees are attached with the record).
13. As far as the argument of the learned Law Officer, NADRA that the petitioners have not availed the remedies available to them under the Ordinance of 2000 to approach the NADRA Registration Center (‘NRC’) for issuance of their CNICs, is concerned, the record reveals that initially the petitioners filed a Civil Suit, bearing No. 141 of 2021, before the trial Court, which was rejected, vide judgment and decree dated 21.12.2021 with directions that they may avail the
alternate remedy by approaching the NRC. Consequently, the petitioners have approached the NRC as well as Verification Committee of respondents, but no heed was paid to their request, as such, they again approached the trial Court for redressel of their grievances in a fresh suit. The petitioners also produced a Token having No. 2093, Tracking ID No. 107251321502, dated 04.01.2022 as Ex.P/1, through the representative of NADRA i.e . PW -4 Ghous Bakhsh, while
PW-4A representative of verification committee of NADRA produced Token having No. 33,
issue d to Abdul Qadir (petitioner No. 5), the attorney for the petitioners, as Ex.P/6. It is asserted
that all the petitioners are real brothers, therefore, Token was issued only to petitioner No. 5.
Besides this, the petitioners also produced copy of application moved by them to Director
General, NADRA, dated 25.04.2022 (Mark/1) for the issuance of their CNICs, thus, keeping in view the above facts and law, the argument of the learned Law officer NADRA has no force and is turned down.
14. Apart from above fact, even otherwise, Citizenship is the most valuable basic right of a
human. All other rights, whether social or political, cannot be enjoyed if a person does not have a bond of citizenship with a State. The fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution are rendered meaningless if a person is stripped of citizenship. It has a devastating impact on human lives. A person once registered as a citizen cannot be deprived of citizenship otherwise than
as is provided under the law. Article 15 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights
declares that ‘everyone has the right of nationality. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality’. Article 7 of Convention on the Rights of a Child recognizes that every child has the right to acquire a nationality. The 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness discourages States from creating statelessness. In a nut shell, citizenship is the sole and effective bond between a State and a human which enables the latter to enjoy all the rights guaranteed under the Constitution. It entitles the individual to the protection of the State and to enjoy civil and political rights. A State cannot adopt policies which will have the effect of even inadvertently rendering a person stateless. The Citizenship Act and the Citizenship Rules and the statutory safeguards prescribed therein are consistent with the mandate of the Constitution and the international obligations. Citizenship is so precious a right that cannot be taken away in a reckless or perfunctory manner.
In view of facts and law discussed and described hereinabove, I am inclined to allow the instant Civil Revision Petition No. 88 of 2023 and set aside the impugned judgment and decree dated 22.02.2023, passed by the Additional District Judge -II, Quetta. Resultant, the judgment and
decree of the trial Court i.e . Civil Judge -IX, Quetta, dated 08.11.2022, is hereby upheld.
(Y.A.) Civil revision allowedThis judgment is reproduced from a publicly available source for informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice. If you believe this listing contains an error,
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