1. DORAB PATEL, J.---This appeal arises out of iii application filed by the respondent in the District Court, Karachi under section 25 of the Guardians and Wards Act (hereinafter called the said Act).
2. The appellant had married the, "respondent in 1965 and they had a child the next year. The parties were then living in Chittagong and continued so to do until 1968 when according to the appellant, the respondent expelled her and her minor child Salim Altaf from his house in Chittagong.
3. Therefore, the appellant went to Lahore with her minor child and claims to have been living with her parents in Lahore since November, 1968. She was divorced by the respondent in July 1969. Shortly thereafter the respondent was transferred to Karachi, and he filed an application under section 25 of the Guardians and Wards Act in the District Court, Karachi for the custody of his minor son, the said Salim Altaf, which was ultimately heard and allowed in due course by the Sixth Civil Judge, First Class, Karachi. However, before it was allowed, on being served with the notice of this application, the appellant had filed an application under section 4-A of the said Act in the Lahore Seat of High Court of West Pakistan, for the transfer of the proceedings instituted by the respondent from the District Court, Karachi to the District Court in Lahore. The application was not maintainable under the said section 4-A but treating it as an application under section 24 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the Chief Justice of the West Pakistan High Court directed that the guardinship application of the respondent be transferred from Karachi to Lahore and "Placed before the District Judge, Lahore se that he may entrust it to a Court of competent jurisdiction''.This order was passed on 24-6-1970 and presumably because the High Court of West Pakistan was to be replaced by its successor High Court under President's Order No. 8 of 1970 the Chief Justice further directed that intimation of the transfer order be sent tele--graphically to Karachi. It is not disputed that this order was communicated to the learned Civil Judge in Karachi before the break up of the West Pakistan High Court. However, the Registrar of the Sind & Baluchistan High Court declined to transfer the case to the District Court, Lahore. The result was that contrary to the order of the West Pakistan High Court dated 24-6-1970, which had become final, the learned Sixth Civil Judge, First Class, Karachi heard and allowed the guardianship application of the respondent by his order dated 18- 8-1971 and directed the appellant to hand over her minor son to the respondent.
4. Aggrieved by this order, the appellant filed an appeal in the Sind & Baluchistan High Court, and Rana Sarwar submitted that the appellant had challenged the impugned order inter alia on the ground that the Courts in Sind had no jurisdiction to try the respondent's application in view of the order of the West Pakistan High Court dated 24-6-1970 as it had become final. Now, together with the appeal, the appellant had sought a stay of the order of the learned Civil Judge, and in view of her objection to the jurisdic--petition of the Courts in Karachi, it is not surprising that she obtained an ad interim stay in her favour, However, her stay application came up for hearing before another learned Single Judge of the Sind & Baluchistan High Court on 8-11-1971 and this learned Single Judge discharged the ad interim in-junction which the appellant had obtained and directed her to produce the minor in Court in order to enable him to pass further orders with regard to the minor's custody.
5. Aggrieved by this order, the appellant filed a petition for leave in this Court which was admitted to examine the very obvious question as to whether, in the events that had happened, the Courts in Karachi had not been divested of their jurisdiction to hear the respondent's guardianship application.
6. Mr. Akhtar A.I admitted that no appeal had been filed by the respondent against the order of the Chief Justice of the West Pakistan High Court transferring the respondent's guardianship application from the District Court, Karachi to the District Court, Lahore. Therefore, as the order of transfer had become final Mr. Sarwar submitted that the orders of the Civil Judge First Class, Karachi as well as the impugned order were, in consequence totally void and without jurisdiction.
7. And on this connection, learned counsel also relied on clause 8(1) of the High Courts (Establishment) Order, 1970. When we referred Mr. Akhtar A.I to the provisions of this clause, he feebly submitted that the clause supported the respondent's case because the jurisdiction of the Lahore High Court did not extend to the Province of Sind, therefore, it was not the proper High Court within the meaning of the said clause for the purpose of deciding the guardianship application.
8. The appellants objection to the jurisdiction of the Courts in Karachi was relevant to her claim for interim relief because her contention was that she had made out a very strong prima facie case for interim relief on account of this objection. Be that as it may, this objection will have to be decided in her appeal also. And as that appeal has been pending for a very long time we are certain that the High Court will dispose of this appeal within a few months as it is a guardianship appeal in these circumstances, in older not to pre judge the case of the parties to the appeal in the High Court, we would only observe that on the arguments advanced we are satisfied that the order of the learned Single Judge discharging the ad-interim injunction obtained by the appellant cannot be sustained. Accordingly, we set aside the High Court's order of 8-11-1971 and further direct that High Court shall not make an further orders for the custody of the minor child Salim Altaf until the appellant's appeal is decided. In the circumstances of the case we allow the appeal without any order as to costs. revisions by the competent authorities. Therefore, it is advisable to consult the official sources or legal professionals for the most up-to-date and accurate information.