Islamabad: The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) has issued a set of guiding principles for civil and revenue courts to strengthen the protection of minors’ property and inheritance rights in legal proceedings.
In a judgement authored by Chief Justice Aminuddin Khan, the court directed all civil and revenue courts to determine at the earliest stage of proceedings whether any party is a minor and ensure strict compliance with the provisions of Order XXXII of the Code of Civil Procedure (CPC), 1908, before taking any substantive step in the case.
The FCC ruled that courts must appoint a guardian for a minor only after confirming that the proposed guardian has no conflict of interest. It also held that no compromise affecting a minor’s property or inheritance rights should be accepted unless the court is satisfied that it is lawful, serves the minor’s best interests, and complies with the relevant provisions of the CPC.
The court further directed that cases involving a minor’s property or inheritance must comply with the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890, where applicable, and that courts should exercise greater scrutiny when compromises involve illiterate, parda nasheen, or otherwise vulnerable persons representing minors.
The guidelines were issued while deciding a property dispute from Bahawalnagar in which the FCC set aside a Lahore High Court judgement that had restored a compromise decree affecting the rights of minor children and a woman. The court reinstated an earlier revisional court order that had annulled the compromise decree and directed a fresh trial on the merits.
The FCC observed that proceedings involving minors’ rights should not be decided hastily and that every order must reflect the court’s independent assessment of the minor’s best interests. It also noted that a judicial decree cannot validate an agreement that is legally defective and said the High Court had failed to properly apply the legal safeguards protecting the property and inheritance rights of women and minors.
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