A two-member bench of the Pakistan Supreme Court Lahore Registry dismissed a petition filed by a serving Army Major, who had challenged the verdict of a guardian court that had been passed in favour of his divorced wife and two children for giving them monthly expenses.
Najeeb, the army officer, filed the petition challenging the order that directed him to pay Rs 12,000 to each of the two children as monthly expenditures being their father. He had divorced Fatima, the mother of his two children, in 1998 and he had not paid her anything with regards to their children’s upbringing. Later when the guardian court gave the decision in Fatima’s favour Najeeb filed an appeal against the judgment in the Supreme Court contending amount fixed as his children’s expenditure; which he believed was too much considering his other responsibilities.
The bench comprising of Justice Jawad S Khawaja and Justice Ameer Muslim Hani dismissed his application observing that Supreme Court was not the proper forum for petitions against guardian court judgments. The bench held that he should have approached the session court or the Lahore High Court challenging the order as SC could not be moved directly in family matters.
