IHC imposes 0.5m fine on Nadra for blocking woman’s CNIC

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Saturday has imposed Rs0.5 million as fine on the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) for blocking the CNIC of a woman over a paternity dispute.

The court, in its order, states that the authority is not vested with the power and jurisdiction to, directly or indirectly, adjudicate upon or interfere with intricate contested family disputes, including paternity.

Nadra’s proceedings have been declared “illegal, void, without lawful authority and jurisdiction. The court also imposed a fine of Rs0.5 million fine on Muhammad Yaqoob too. “The CNIC of the petitioner shall be restored and the change of paternity shall be subject to a declaration by a competent civil court. By disputing the paternity of the petitioner, the latter must have been exposed to unimaginable pain, agony, and emotional distress as well as psychological trauma,” the court said in its judgment.

Nadra and Muhammad Yaqoob have been directed to deposit the imposed costs with the deputy registrar (judicial) of this court within 30 days. The amount will then be paid to the petitioner, according to the order.

Petitioner Urooj Tabani had approached the court and said that her father, Muhammad Yaqoob Tabani, has refused to acknowledge her as his daughter and got her CNIC blocked. Her name was also removed from his family tree.

Tabani’s mother, Firdous Fatima, had filed a petition in a Karachi family court and claimed that she married Muhammad Yaqoob in 1989 and her daughter was “born out of wedlock”. She asked for a “decree for maintenance, delivery expenses, and dower amounting to Rs500,000.”