Law: Muslim Family Laws Ordinance, 1961

Section: 4

Law: Succession Act (XXXIX of 1925)

Section: 278

Muslim Family Laws Ordinance (VIII of 1961) S.4---Succession Act (XXXIX of 1925), S. 278---Succession---Pre-deceased brother s children---Entitlement---Scope---Letter of administration filed by the respondents was issued in their favour whereas to the extent of pre-deceased brother s children (interveners / petitioners ) , the same was concurrently declined---Validity---Section 4 of the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance, 1961, being on the statute book at the time of filing of the application for grant of Letter of Administration, was not applicable to the present case because it only provides for per stripes share on opening of succession to the children of deceased son and daughter of the propositus; which (Section 4) explicitly was not applicable to the pre-deceased brother s children rather said provision only attracted to the sons and daughters and the relations, who are specifically mentioned in it--- As regards the question of analogy, notably, the matter of inheritance among Muslims is strictly governed by law and its provisions are well-defined leaving no ambiguity about the persons who are entitled to inheritance in the estate of the deceased -- In the present case, deceased was survived by brothers and sisters and also two sons of pre-deceased brother---In terms of the table of sharers provided in the Mohammadan Law, a full sister is shown to be 1/2 sharer while table of residuaries include full brother s son; the son of pre-deceased sister is not mentioned in the table of sharer nor in the table of residuaries; the children of a pre-deceased sister are included in subsection (2) of S.68 of Mulla's Mohammadan Law, which lays down the list of distant kindred---The distant kindred only inherits when there are no residuaries---Under such circumstances, the properties and other assets of the deceased are required to be distributed amongst the brothers and sisters, who survived deceased and if anything is left for distribution, only then it can be given to the distant kindred---In the present case, since the deceased was survived by siblings, resultantly nothing would be left for its distribution amongst the legal heirs of predeceased brothers and…