PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has issued notices to the federal and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government seeking their response to a petition against the law and rules for acquiring succession certificates.

A bench consisting of Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Fazal Subhan also directed the attorney general for Pakistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa advocate general to attend the next hearing, observing that as vires of the law were challenged, it was necessary to put them on notice under the Code of Civil Procedure.

The respondents in the petition are the federal government through the interior secretary, KP government through its chief secretary, Nadra through its chairman, the attorney general for Pakistan, and KP advocate general.

Senior lawyer Saleem Shah Hoti petitioned the court to declare that the KP Letters of Administration and Succession Act, 2021, and the rules framed thereunder are in conflict with the Constitution.

Bench asks attorney general, KP’s AG to attend next hearing

He also sought interim relief from the court requesting that the law and rules may be suspended till final disposal of the petition.

The petitioner said the government had fixed an “exorbitant fee” for different services, including succession certificates and duplicate certificates, which the people couldn’t afford to buy.

He said a letter of administration/certificate of succession was issued when an application was filed for claiming the charge of a property left by a deceased person being legal heirs in respect of his or her movable or immovable property.

Mr Hoti said the KP government had enacted the KP Letter of Administration and Succession Certificate Act, 2021, and framed the Letter of Administration and Succession Certificate Rules, 2021. He argued that both the Act and the rules were in conflict with the Constitution on multiple grounds.

The petitioner contended that instead of ensuring facilities to the people, they had been overburdened with financial hardships and physical inconvenience through the said Act and rules.

He said under Rule 7 the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) should collect the fee and other charges for its services as specified in the schedule mentioned in the rules.

Mr Hoti pointed out that under the said schedule an applicant had to pay a fee of Rs20,000 with the initial application for getting a succession certificate, while had to pay a fee of Rs5,000 while applying for a duplicate or amended certificate.

Mr Hoti said if the value of the property in question was less than Rs100,000, then the fee would be Rs10,000.

He added that it showed that even if the property or amount in question, for which the applicant was seeking a succession certificate, was even far less than Rs100,000, then the applicant had to pay a fee of Rs10,000.

The petitioner argued that Section 10 of the impugned law had barred the jurisdiction of courts till such time the Nadra declined to process application of a succession certificate.

He said the impugned law had trampled upon the jurisdiction of the judiciary through its sections 5 and 10 of the law in violation of Articles 2-A and 175 of the Constitution.

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2023