MALIK MUHAMMAD QAYYUM, J. This petition under Article 199 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973 arises out of an application under section 9 of the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance, 1961 filed by respondent No. 1, who at the relevant time was wife of the petitioner. That application was allowed by the Arbitration Council vide its order dated 7.3.1997 and the petitioner was directed to pay maintenance w.e.f. June, 1993 till February, 1997 at the rate of Rs. 3000/- per month. The petitioner having remaining unsuccessful in revision before the Collector which was dismissed on 2.9.1997 has filed this petition.
2. The first contention raised by the petitioner's leamed counsel was that in law the Arbitration Council could only award maintenance for a period of about 3 years before the filing of the petition and as such the claim to the remaining extent was barred by time.
3. There is no merit in this contention. There is no provision in the Limitation Act as such which governs the filing of application for maintenance before the Arbitration Council. The leamed counsel has, however, cited Abdul Latif v. Mst, Bakht Bhari and 2 others (1985 CLC 1184) to contend that prescribed limitation was 3 years.
4. I am unable to rely on the said judgments firstly because there is no discussion on the subject and secondly the Supreme Court of Pakistan in Muhammad Nawaz v. Mst. Khurshid Begum and others (PLD 1972 S.C. 302) has held that such an application was governed by Article 120 of the Limitation Act, 1908 which prescribes 8 years limitation.
5. Mr. M. Shahid Maqbool Sheikh, Advocate then argued that the evidence was not recorded by the Arbitration Council in a proper manner.
6. I am afraid, this contention also cannot be accepted as there is no prescribed procedure to be followed by the Arbitration Council which is thus required to act in a fair and just manner which in the present case has been manifestly done.