SAHIWAL: Around 62pc cases of ‘divorce’ and 52pc of ‘khula’ are pending in more than 300 urban and rural union councils of Sahiwal division.

Sources said 4,827 divorce cases were filed, out of which 1,768 cases had been resolved and 1,866 were pending due to various reasons. Similarly, they said, of the 2,230 khula cases, 1,177 had been resolved and 781 were pending with the secretaries of union councils.

Saleem Asar Ansari, a Family Court lawyer of Sahiwal Bar, said: “There are two kinds of separation between a husband and a wife; one is khula which a wife takes through a civil court and the decree is awarded to respective UC where Nikah was registered and the other is divorce by a husband to a woman.”

He said that in both kinds of separation a time period of “three months” was mentioned under The Family Court Act - 1964 and The Family Court Rules -- 1965.

He said the regulation time was not followed and the cases were delayed. He alleged the UC secretaries were responsible for the delay.

During a visit to Masalhiti Union Council at Metropolitan Corporation, this correspondent saw women complaining about delay in dispatching three reminders both in khula and divorce cases to respective parties.

Some people alleged that they had to grease the palms of the UC secretaries to dispatch registered letters in time otherwise, the secretaries claim they have no money for registering dispatch letters.

The matter becomes even more complicated if khula or divorce is filed by or against any expatriate.

Sources said Commissioner Javed Akhtar had recently taken notice of the situation and directed the Local Government and Community Development officials to expedite the process.

LGCD Director Dr Saifullah told Dawn that the department had asked the respective deputy directors and assistant directors of the three districts to seek union council reports from the secretaries and ensure swift processing of the cases.

VARSITY PROJECT: A three-storey academic block of 102 classrooms, laboratories and a seminar hall is going to be constructed at a cost of Rs1.10 billion at the University of Sahiwal.

UoS Vice Chancellor Dr Javed Akhtar told Dawn that academic and administrative work suffered during the past two years because of a lack of a permanent VC.

He said a new academic block, a mosque, a sports ground and a new administration block would be established within one year.

Dr Shafiq Hussain, Project Director, said funds had been allocated for these projects.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2022