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Judgments on Code of Civil Procedure 1908
Pakistani court judgments that consider Code of Civil Procedure 1908, summarised in plain English, newest first. Each gives the issue, what the court held and what it means in practice, and is reviewed by an advocate.
9 judgments
A section 12(2) application cannot simply reopen a contested family decree
Muhammad Afzal v. Maria Tariq and others
Issue: Can a party who fully contested a family suit reopen the decree under section 12(2) CPC, and is a claim that former…
Held: No on both points. The petitioner had contested the suit in full and his section 12(2) CPC application identified no fraud, misrepresentation or concealment of the kind the provision requires; a bare assertion that former counsel did not disclose the…
r.22, Family Courts Rules 1965s.12(2), Code of Civil Procedure 1908s.14, Family Courts Act 1964s.5, Limitation Act 1908
Arresting a husband to enforce a family decree is a last resort with strict safeguards
Pervaiz Ahmed v. Additional District Judge & others
Issue: Can an executing court arrest a judgment debtor under a family decree and detain him for a year without first giving a…
Held: No. Under Order XXI rule 37 the court must give the judgment debtor an opportunity to show cause before issuing an arrest warrant, and under the proviso to section 51 it may order detention only on reasons recorded in writing…
Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973O.XXI r.37, Code of Civil Procedure 1908s.51, Code of Civil Procedure 1908
Parents cannot bargain away a child’s independent right to maintenance
Mst. Shazia Naureen, etc. v. District Judge, etc.
Issue: Can a mother, as guardian, agree to reduced maintenance for her children, and can a Family Court fix the children's maintenance solely…
Held: No to both. A child's right to maintenance belongs to the child, not the parent; a guardian cannot waive, reduce or surrender it, and any agreement doing so is void against the minor. A compromise on a minor's behalf needs…
Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973O.XXXII, Code of Civil Procedure 1908s.17, Family Courts Act 1964
Military pension can be attached to enforce a final child-maintenance decree
Muhammad Latif v. Addl. District Judge, Jaranwala etc.
Issue: Can the pension of a retired Army official be attached to enforce a final Family Court decree for his children's maintenance, despite…
Held: Yes. Section 11 of the Pensions Act protects pensions from attachment 'at the instance of a creditor', but minor children enforcing their father's duty to maintain them are not creditors and the liability is not an ordinary debt. Section 171…
Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973s.11, Pensions Act 1871s.13, Family Courts Act 1964s.17, Family Courts Act 1964
A judgment debtor’s CNIC cannot be blocked to enforce a maintenance decree
Nasir Ali Ranjha v. Addl. District Judge, etc.
Issue: Can an executing court order NADRA to block a judgment debtor's CNIC under section 51(e) CPC to force payment of a family…
Held: No. A CNIC proves a person's identity and cannot be taken away without due process, and section 51(e) CPC cannot be read to permit blocking it in execution, following the Supreme Court's order of 18 February 2026 in Agha Abid…
Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973s.18, National Database and Registration Authority Ordinance 2000s.51, Code of Civil Procedure 1908
Foreign maintenance orders: avoiding a duplicate child-maintenance claim in Pakistan
Muhammad Muneeb Arshad v. Mst. Ammara Mahroof and others
Issue: Where an Irish court has already fixed a child's maintenance and the father is paying it, can a Pakistani Family Court run…
Held: No, on these facts. Living abroad does not by itself oust a Pakistani Family Court's jurisdiction under Rule 6, but where a competent foreign court has fixed the child's maintenance and it is being paid, the same claim cannot run…
Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973r.6, Family Courts Rules 1965s.10, Code of Civil Procedure 1908s.11, Code of Civil Procedure 1908
A vague Talaqnama does not prove a family decree was satisfied
Ejaz-ur-Rehman v. Additional District Judge etc.
Issue: In execution of a decree for dower, dowry and maintenance, can the husband have his arrest warrants cancelled by relying on a…
Held: No. Apart from the mutual consent to divorce, the Talaqnama's terms were vague: it recorded no amount, no alternative payment for the dowry and no mode of satisfying the decree, and the husband's own objection petition said her entitlements would…
Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973s.47, Code of Civil Procedure 1908
A husband who ignored a Khula and maintenance suit cannot use section 12(2) or a writ to undo the ex parte decree
Muhammad Sohail v. Mst. Ambreen Jamal and others
Issue: Can a husband who was served by bailiff, courier, pasting and publication, was debarred from filing a written statement and did not…
Held: No. The service reports disproved his claim of non-service; under section 12(2) he had to plead and prove fraud, misrepresentation or lack of jurisdiction, and he produced no credible material. Both courts below concurrently rejected his application, revision under section…
Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973s.115, Code of Civil Procedure 1908s.12(2), Code of Civil Procedure 1908
The paternal grandfather can be joined in a maintenance suit, but his liability comes second
Nizam ud Din v. Additional District Judge etc.
Issue: Can the minors' paternal grandfather be added as a defendant at the appeal stage of their maintenance suit, while the father is…
Held: Yes. The father must maintain his children first; if he cannot, the duty may pass to the mother and, if she too is poor, to the paternal grandfather in easy circumstances (paragraph 370 of Mulla's Muhammadan Law). Following Bashir Ahmad…
Art. 199, Constitution of Pakistan 1973O.I r.10, Code of Civil Procedure 1908