Wife is entitled for maintainance even without rukhsati

Citation Name  : 2012  PLD  245     LAHORE-HIGH-COURT-LAHORE
Side Appellant : Mst. SHAISTA SHAHZAD
Side Opponent : ADDITIONAL DISTRICT JUDGE
	S. 5 & Sched.---Constitution of Pakistan, Art. 199---Constitutional Petition---Suit for recovery of maintenance allowance, dower and additional amount stipulated in the nikahnama as payable to wife conditional in the case of divorce---Suit of wife (petitioner) was decreed to the extent of maintenance allowance only by the Appellate Court, and said order was assailed by both wife and the husband (respondent) in the constitutional petition---Validity---Family Court had no jurisdiction to entertain the wife's suit for recovery of additional conditional amount in case of divorce incorporated in the nikahnama --Wife's claim for dower amount was devoid of any force as the same had been categorically mentioned in the nikahnama as having been paid to the wife at the time of Nikah---Wife in her cross-examination had admitted that she never questioned the entries in the said nikahnama before any forum and the same had been duly signed by her---Plea of husband that the wife was not entitled to claim any maintenance allowance was devoid of any force as a valid Nikah under Islamic Law confers upon the wife the right of maintenance and imposed on her the obligation to be faithful and obedient to her husband for performance of her marital duties---Record showed that after the recitation of Nikah, the wife never refused to effect union and perform her marital obligations, rather the husband himself refused to obtain Rukhsati on the pretext that he had to complete his studies and ultimately divorced the wife---Courts below had rightly decreed that wife's suit for maintenance allowance from the date of Nikah till the date of divorce as well as for the period of Iddat --- No factual or legal infirmity having been found in the judgment and decree of Appellate Court, constitutional petition was dismissed.