Islamabad: The Supreme Court said a woman could claim inheritance in her parents’ property during her lifetime and not after death.
A three-judge bench, headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial, on Thursday, heard the appeal against the Peshawar High Court (PHC) judgement. The bench upheld the judgment of the PHC.
The sons of a deceased woman from Peshawar claimed share in their maternal grandfather Isa Khan’s property.
According to the detail, Isa Khan had transferred his property to his sons, but did not give share to either of his daughters. The daughters also did not claim right on their father’s property during their lifetime.
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After their death, their sons filed a suit before the civil court, Peshawar in 2004 to claim their share in their maternal grandfather’s property. The civil court decided the suit in the boys’ favour. However, the PHC nullified a civil court’s judgement in favour of the grandchildren.
Justice Bandial said that in inheritance law, the women’s right of inheritance is protected. However, he said a woman’s inheritance can only be claimed during her lifetime and her children cannot lay a claim after her death. “We have to look at what happens if women give up their rights or do not claim,” Justice Bandial said.
The apex court in August this year had expressed concern over the executive’s slackness in protecting the rights of inheritance of females.
A division bench of the apex court comprising Justice Isa and Justice Yahya Afridi heard the case, wherein, a sister was being deprived of inheritance. Justice Isa, while authoring the judgment, said that the adage, prevention is the best medicine, is equally applicable when female rights are impaired.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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