Pensioner status does not exempt father from child maintenance: LHC

Add ARY News on GoogleFollow on Google Discoverimage: fileAAResizeLAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has dismissed a pensioner’s petition challenging the attachment of funds from his pension account for the payment of child maintenance.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Malik Waqar Haider Awan and Justice Malik Javid Iqbal Wains announced the judgment.

Petitioner Muhammad Latif had challenged a judgment of the Family Court, Jaranwala, seeking removal of the attachment placed on the amount lying in his pension account.

His wife had filed a suit before the Family Court seeking dissolution of the marriage and recovery of dowry articles, while his minor children sought recovery of maintenance allowance. The two cases were consolidated and decided through a single judgment and decree.

The Family Court ordered Latif to pay monthly maintenance of Rs3,000 to each of his two children, with an annual increase of 10%.

During execution proceedings, the Family Court issued non-bailable warrants against the petitioner and proceeded to attach the amount lying in his pension account.

Landmark LHC ruling: Child maintenance cannot be reduced even by parental consent

Counsel for the petitioner argued that the amount sought to be attached constituted pension rather than salary or pay. He contended that pension was protected under Section 11 of the Pensions Act, 1871, and Section 60 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.

The court, however, rejected the plea, observing that the right of a minor child to maintenance does not arise from any transaction of lending or borrowing, nor from money advanced by the child to the father.

“Rather, it arises from the relationship between father and child and from the legal obligation of the father to maintain his minor children,” the LHC observed.

The court further noted that a father’s obligation to provide maintenance for his minor children is also expressly recognized in the Holy Quran.

Referring to Surah Al-Baqarah, Ayat 233, the court observed that the Quranic injunction establishes the father’s responsibility to provide sustenance and maintenance according to his means.

The court said the Islamic principle was consistent with the legal obligation imposed on a father to maintain his minor children.

The LHC further observed that merely receiving a pension does not, by itself, invalidate execution proceedings arising from a final maintenance decree.

The court consequently dismissed the petition and upheld the decision of the lower court.

The court also made it clear that child maintenance is a legal right arising from the parent-child relationship.

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