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This case involved a dispute between a husband and wife over money claims arising from their marriage. The wife had filed a suit seeking maintenance allowance, dower (mehr), and an additional amount that the nikahnama stated would become payable to her if she was divorced. The Appellate Court had granted her only the maintenance allowance, rejecting the other claims, and both spouses challenged this outcome before the Lahore High Court through a constitutional petition.
The High Court upheld the Appellate Court's decision. It ruled that the Family Court did not have jurisdiction to hear the wife's claim for the extra conditional amount tied to divorce as written in the nikahnama. Her claim for dower also failed because the nikahnama itself recorded that the dower had already been paid to her at the time of the marriage ceremony, and she had admitted in cross-examination that she never challenged this entry anywhere.
On the maintenance issue, the court rejected the husband's argument that she was not entitled to any maintenance. It held that a valid Nikah under Islamic law itself creates the wife's right to maintenance, even before rukhsati (the sending of the bride to the husband's home), as long as she remains willing to fulfill her marital obligations. Since the evidence showed the wife never refused to join her husband and it was actually the husband who delayed rukhsati and eventually divorced her, she was rightly entitled to maintenance from the date of nikah until divorce, plus the iddat period. The petition was dismissed.
یہ مقدمہ میاں بیوی کے درمیان نکاح سے پیدا ہونے والے مالی دعووں کے تنازع سے متعلق تھا۔ بیوی نے مقدمہ دائر کیا تھا جس میں اس نے نان و نفقہ (خرچہ)، مہر، اور وہ اضافی رقم مانگی تھی جو نکاح نامے کے مطابق طلاق کی صورت میں اسے ادا کی جانی تھی۔ اپیلٹ کورٹ نے اسے صرف نان و نفقہ دینے کا فیصلہ دیا تھا اور باقی دعوے مسترد کر دیے تھے، جس پر میاں اور بیوی دونوں نے آئینی درخواست کے ذریعے لاہور ہائی کورٹ میں اس فیصلے کو چیلنج کیا۔
ہائی کورٹ نے اپیلٹ کورٹ کے فیصلے کو برقرار رکھا۔ عدالت نے قرار دیا کہ فیملی کورٹ کو اس اضافی مشروط رقم کے دعوے کی سماعت کا اختیار ہی حاصل نہیں تھا جو نکاح نامے میں طلاق کی شرط سے مشروط تھی۔ بیوی کا مہر کا دعویٰ بھی اس بنا پر ناکام ہوا کہ خود نکاح نامے میں درج تھا کہ مہر نکاح کی تقریب کے وقت ہی ادا کر دیا گیا تھا، اور جرح کے دوران بیوی نے خود
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Citation Name : 2012 PLD 245 LAHORE-HIGH-COURT-LAHORE Side Appellant : Mst. SHAISTA SHAHZAD Side Opponent : ADDITIONAL DISTRICT JUDGE S. 5 & Sched.---Constitution of Pakistan, Art. 199---Constitutional Petition---Suit for recovery of maintenance allowance, dower and additional amount stipulated in the nikahnama as payable to wife conditional in the case of divorce---Suit of wife (petitioner) was decreed to the extent of maintenance allowance only by the Appellate Court, and said order was assailed by both wife and the husband (respondent) in the constitutional petition---Validity---Family Court had no jurisdiction to entertain the wife's suit for recovery of additional conditional amount in case of divorce incorporated in the nikahnama --Wife's claim for dower amount was devoid of any force as the same had been categorically mentioned in the nikahnama as having been paid to the wife at the time of Nikah---Wife in her cross-examination had admitted that she never questioned the entries in the said nikahnama before any forum and the same had been duly signed by her---Plea of husband that the wife was not entitled to claim any maintenance allowance was devoid of any force as a valid Nikah under Islamic Law confers upon the wife the right of maintenance and imposed on her the obligation to be faithful and obedient to her husband for performance of her marital duties---Record showed that after the recitation of Nikah, the wife never refused to effect union and perform her marital obligations, rather the husband himself refused to obtain Rukhsati on the pretext that he had to complete his studies and ultimately divorced the wife---Courts below had rightly decreed that wife's suit for maintenance allowance from the date of Nikah till the date of divorce as well as for the period of Iddat --- No factual or legal infirmity having been found in the judgment and decree of Appellate Court, constitutional petition was dismissed.