Child maintenance not void if father absent: LHC

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has held that the responsibility of maintenance cannot be permitted to be defeated merely because the father remained absent from the proceedings. The court advised the trial courts to remain alive to the reality that the needs of a child do not stand suspended during legal contests and expenses relating to food, clothing, education, healthcare and day-to-day upbringing continue unabated. The court observed that the obligation of a father to maintain his minor child is a continuing and enduring duty imposed by law, morality and social conscience. The court also observed that if a parent, after keeping himself away for years, is allowed to secure unconditional reopening of the case and evade liability for the period, would reward default and penalize the innocent minor. The court passed this order in a petition of Faizan Kareem who approached against the appellant court imposed condition qua payment of past and future maintenance of his minor. The court dismissed the petition in limine and observed that the impugned judgment does not call for interference by this court. The court noted that the petitioner sought restoration of an opportunity to contest the matter after the respondents had already obtained decrees in their favour. The court discussing the present case said, in such circumstances, the condition requiring continuity of maintenance, particularly insofar as the minor is concerned, advances substantial justice and prevents the reopening of proceedings from becoming an instrument for delaying or defeating the child’s lawful subsistence rights, the court added. The court observed that although the said judgments were later set aside on the ground of denial of opportunity to the petitioner to defend the suit, the quantification of maintenance made therein cannot be treated as wholly arbitrary or without any basis. Copyright Business Recorder, 2026

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