ISLAMABAD: The Federal Constitutional Court of Pakistan (FCCP) has held that Section 4 of the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance, 1961, which provides inheritance rights to the children of a predeceased son or daughter, does not extend to the children of a predeceased brother.
A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan and Justice Ali Baqar Najafi announced the judgment on a petition filed by the legal heirs of late Javed Iqbal Rana and upheld the Lahore High Court’s March 18, 2026 order.
The court observed that Section 4 specifically refers to the death of a son or daughter before the opening of succession and provides for the inheritance share of their surviving children. Therefore, the provision could not be extended to other categories of relatives through analogy or interpretation.
The case concerned inheritance of property No. 15-L, Model Town Extension, Lahore. Its owner, Ejaz Ahmad Rana, died childless on December 31, 2018. The petitioners were children of his brother, who had predeceased him.
The court noted that since the petitioners’ father had died before Ejaz Ahmad Rana, no inheritance had opened in their father’s favour upon the latter’s death that could subsequently pass to his children.
The judgment held that Section 4 constituted a specific statutory exception and that the principle of representation provided under it was confined to children of a predeceased son or daughter. Extending it to children of a predeceased brother would amount to adding words to the law, the court observed.
The FCCP further held that the fact that the deceased had no children did not enlarge the scope of Section 4. Whether the petitioners had any entitlement under general Muslim law would have to be determined in accordance with their specific legal status and applicable principles of Islamic jurisprudence.
The court observed that inheritance rights do not arise merely from a blood relationship or through a predeceased relative but are determined according to the principles prescribed by law.
The Federal Constitutional Court dismissed the petition and upheld the Lahore High Court’s judgment.
