ISLAMABAD
: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Tuesday gave its verdict in a 100-year-old property inheritance case that had started in a court in Rajasthan in 1918.
The property case, which dates back to 1918, was about a dispute over the inheritance of 700 acres (5,600 kanals) of land in
Bahawalpur
, a region that was regarded as part of the
Rajputana States
before the partition. Following the partition, the case was transferred to a trial court in Bahawalpur, a city in Pakistan’s Punjab province. In 2005, the case was transferred to the apex court .
The complainants, who travelled from Bahawalpur to Islamabad for the hearing, claimed their elder Shahabuddin, son of Sher Khan, was the owner of the land. He had died in 1918, and the dispute had been going on since then.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP)
Mian Saqib Nisar
heard the case. While announcing the verdict, the CJP said the property should be distributed among the heirs under the Islamic law. “The court will not deprive anyone of their legal share,” he added.
There are thousands of cases pending in courts of Pakistan for decades. Legal experts believe that the number of such cases cannot be brought down until amendments were made in the Pakistan Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Code and the evidence act.
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