KARACHI, Jan 12: The American authorities have been urged to take into consideration the order of the Sindh High Court while dealing with the apportionment of the properties of Karachi’s first Mayor after independence, Hakim Mohammad Ahson, as per the Muslim Personal Law.
This has been stated in a communication by former advocate-general Sindh Raja Qureshi. He in his capacity as AG was representing the state and one of the sons of the late Hakim Mohammad Ahson Abbasi. The matter pertains to a dispute over disbursement of movable and immovable assets of the late Hakim Ahson, some of whose heirs claimed that they were domiciled in the United States and, therefore, the process should be effected accordingly. The matter was, however, contested in the Sindh High Court on the premise that the first mayor of Karachi after independence was a Pakistani national.
The plaintiff claimed that though Hakim Mohammad Ahson Abbasi and Dr Mehrunnisa Abbasi occasionally visited the USA and some time the state of Maryland, they were never domiciled in Maryland as defined under Maryland law. They held no permanent visas, voted only in Pakistan, filed non-residence tax returns, had no permanent residence nor had any intent of permanently living in the United States.
Pursuant to the hearing of a Succession Miscellaneous Application, the same was granted by the Sindh High Court and, accordingly, Letters of Administration were issued by the then chief justice of the SHC, appointing the Nazir, who was authorized to collect all the movable and immovable properties and apportion the same among the respective legal heirs. It was in this perspective that an independent suit for declaration and injunction was filed which came up for hearing before a single judge being suit No 256/2000 on 28. 2. 2000 wherein the defendants were restrained from acting upon the declaration of domicile of Maryland, the USA, of the deceased parents obtained by the defendants from the Montgomery Country Orphan’s Court.
They were further restrained from dealing and/or misappropriating the estate of the deceased in Pakistan and other countries. Such order was accordingly confirmed on April 9, 2001. As such, the Nazir was authorized to collect the movable and immovable valuables, reflected in the schedules appended to it and apportion the same. As an interim protective measure an order was passed by the court to the effect that the defendants might not deal or misappropriate the estate of the deceased in Pakistan and other countries, while the Nazir had been completely authorized to implement the grant of Letters of Administration and apportion and distribute the assets strictly in accordance with the Muslim Personal Law, being applicable to all Muslims wherever they may be.
Raja Qureshi’s contention was that the Letter of Administration granted in respect of properties of deceased Mehrunnisa Abbasi and Hakim Muhammad Ahson Abbasi was and is based on the Extract from the Register of Death Among Pakistanis kept in the office of the Cantonment Board of Karachi under section 28(1) of the Cantonments Act of 1924, and not in respect of persons domiciled in a foreign country.
Hence any proceedings which attempted to disturb the orders passed by the Sindh High Court on the above-referred subject would be nothing short of but coram non judice in the light of Muslim Personal Law, he claimed.
Referring to the “Convention of the service abroad of judicial and extra- judicial documents in civil or commercial matters,” Raja Qureshi contended that on examining the provisions of 11 (a) of the Selected International conventions, it appeared that the same dealt with notification in conformity with article 31, paragraph ‘C’ of the Convention and the provisions of the Convention was declared to have entered into force in Pakistan on 1st August, 1989, in accordance with article 28, paragraph 3.
Hence, he contended, based on the referred Convention\certified copies of the orders along with the schedules of properties, it would be beneficial for securing the ends of justice that this correspondence along with the certified copies of the documents of the SHC be placed before all such authorities concerned who might be instrumental in directing the apportionment of the properties mentioned in the schedules through the High Court of Sindh, having exercised jurisdiction in the matter which would be in conformity with the International Convention entered into between Pakistan and the USA.