Lahore:
The Lahore High Court (LHC) has restored the venue for three sisters after 38 years, canceling a controversial tamleek (gift mutation) that their brother had used to fraudulently deprive them of their legal share in their father’s property.
Justice Malik Javed Iqbal Wains from LHC’s Multan bench gave up that the Tamleek mutation performed on June 28, 1987 was invalid. The court rejected the respondent Abdul Sattar’s claim that their late father had gifted him 33 Biggas and a few Marla’s earth out of “Love and Love”.
Abdul Sattar claimed that the transfer was made while their father was in good health and that he had received verbal consent from his sisters three to four months before the transaction. He also claimed that possession of the land was delivered to him at the time of the mutation.
Read: ‘Property may be gifted verbal’
However, the court found neither written evidence of consent or any testimony from independent witnesses in support of the requirements for tenders, acceptance or delivery of possession.
Justice Wains observed that the reasoning given – Disinusing the daughters out of love and love for the son – was “seriously questionable”. He added that even if the intention behind Tamleek was described as pious, “it is unimaginable where the daughters deprived their Shariah mandate heritage could be treated as a virtue act”.
He also noted, “The Holy Qur’an unequivocally guarantees the rights of daughters in their father’s property. Any attempt to defeat this divine commandment through a questionable transaction is not legally sustainable.”
Justice Wains strongly criticized the appeals court’s conflicting conclusions and noted that the appeals court itself had confirmed in Section No. 9 of his judgment that the trial correctly found the alleged gift invalid.
Justice Malik Javed Iqbal Wains noted that the Court of Appeals initially stated that Abdul Sattar (defendant # 1) could not prove the essential elements of a valid gift (Tamleek), but then inexplicably turned this conclusion in section # 10 by overthrowing the trial conclusions on edition # 2 without giving any new evidence or legal justification.
The Holy Qur’an unequivocally guarantees the rights of daughters in their father’s property. Any attempt to defeat this divine commandment through a questionable transaction is not legally sustainable.
Justice Malik Javed Iqbal Wains
“This contradictory approach is obviously unsustainable in the law,” noted Justice Wains. “It is a firm principle that once a court has finally confirmed a factual finding of a significant question – especially regarding the validity of the main transaction – it cannot, without legal justification or cogente, make a subsequent finding that directly negates its own previous conclusion.”
The judge gave up that such an internal inconsistency constituted “a wrong reading and non-reading of evidence”, which resulted in a spontane aborte that justified the intervention under the court’s audit jurisdiction.
Disputed Tamleek
Justice Wains also noted that Sattar, even in his written statement, could not specify the date, time, place or witnesses for the alleged offer, acceptance and delivery of possession – core ingredients in a valid Tamleek.
“These basic omissions create serious doubts about the authenticity of the alleged tamleek and make Donee’s claim legally unsustainable,” he gave.
He added that the Court of Appeal overturned the court’s well-founded conclusions without assigning sound or cogente reasons. “Less discrepancies in the other evidence of the other not outweigh the accused’s complete failure of proving the core ingredients in a valid gift,” Justice Wains concluded.
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According to the petition, the parties are legal heirs of Ashraf Ali (deceased). The petitioner, Rasheedan, along with Shakoori and Shakila claimed their brother, Abdul Sattar, fraudulently executed Tamleek -Mutation No1874 on June 28, 1987 during their father’s illness to deprive them of their legal and Islamic heritage.
The applicant stated that Ashraf Ali was paralyzed and unable to speak, hear or go at that time. Det hævdede endvidere, at mutationen var attesteret med tilslutning af indtægtsembedsmænd ved hjælp af et falskt tommelfingerindtryk på Rapat Roznamcha Waqaiti – en indgang i de daglige dagbog med begivenheder, der er holdt af patwari for at opretholde registreringer af bemærkelsesværdige hændelser om landforhold, der indgår naturlige katastrofer, transaktioner, der vedrører jord, mutationer, Gifts and more.
The court’s court initially issued in favor of the sisters, but the Court of Appeal later overturned this decision and gave advantage to Abdul Sattar.
The sisters then appealed to LHC, which reintroduced the trial conclusions, declared the Tamleek mutation invalid and restored the sister’s share in the inheritance.
