Assignment

On

Molvi tameezudin case

Submitted to

Miss sumbal islam ch

Submitted by
Awais Mazhar Roll no 34
Asim Fraz Roll no 31
Azhar Iqbal Roll no 18
Zaheer Abbas Roll no 19
Hafiz Abdul Samad Roll no 26
LLB HONS 7TH SEMESTER

Punjab University Law College Lahore

Moulvi Tammizuddin Khans Case

Early Background of Moulvi Tammizuddin:
Maulvi Tammizuddin was born in 1889 in the village of Farid Pur. He got his
early education at his home. For higher education he travelled to Bihar, Calcutta
and then returned to Farid Pur.It start his professional career as a lawyer. He
passed his entrance exam in 1906. He took admission at Victoria College in
Bihar and passed his exams in arts. Then he got education at Scottish Churches
College and Presidency College Calcutta. After passing Honors in English in
1911, he took admission for M.A in Presidency College and for Law at Rippon
College, simultaneously. He passed both the exams in 1913 and 1914
respectively. Having close observation of the rural life and its problems, Maulvi
Tammizuddin stepped in the field of politics when anti-Bengal Partition
Movement was on its peak. In Farid Pur Bar he was an ardent supporter of
Hindu-Muslim unity. So he joined Indian National Congress in 1921. During
Khilafat Movement, he took part in boycotting the British Courts and went to
the extent of getting his brother out of a British school. Maulvi Tammizuddin
was arrested for his political activities and sent to the Farid Pur jail and then
shifted to Central Jail Dhaka where he began reading and understanding Holy
Quran. In 1923, he was released from the jail. These sufferings had great impact
on the personality of Maulvi Tammizuddin. Later, when British government
wanted to give him the title of Khan Bahadur, he simply refused to accept it.
Consequently his practice was banned and due to the financial constraints, he
moved to Calcutta along with his family. There he earned his livelihood as an
ordinary cloth merchant.
He was deeply concerned at Shuddhi Movement, which had started to convert
Muslims to Hinduism. He decided to sever his links with Congress. Earlier, he
contested elections from Farid Pur for the Municipal seat. At that time he was
secretary of the Congress Party for Farid Pur but Hindus elected a Hindu leader
against him. It exposed the Hindus bias against the Muslim community. He left
Congress in 1926. In 1937 elections, he contested on the Muslim League ticket
and convincingly defeated the Congress candidate HamayunKabir. From 1937
to 1947, he served as Minister of Health, Agriculture, Industries, and Education
in Bengal. When Pakistan came into being, he was elected as Vice President of
the Constituent Assembly of the Pakistan. After the death of the Quaid in 1948,
he became the President of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan. Unfortunately

in 1954, Governor General Ghulam Muhammad dissolved the Constituent

Assembly.

The Case:
In 1954, the then Governor General of Pakistan, Ghulam Muhammad dissolved
the constituent assembly of Pakistan and after that a new cabinet of ministers
was appointed to carry out the functions of the Government. Moulvi
Tammizuddin was also among the dismissed persons. SO he decided to
challenge the act of Governor General in Chief Court of Sindh. In his
complaint, he prayed for Writ of Mandamus against the Governor General for
not interfering in the functions of Constituent Assembly and Writ of Quo
Warranto against the newly appointed cabinet to stop them from working.

Writ of Mandamus:
Mandamus is sought for direction to the subordinate court/tribunal or
government officer to perform mandatory duties correctly. Writ of mandamus is
most popular writ, which is issued against the arbitrary/illegal acts of
government officials including police officers, municipal bodies etc. This writ is
given to a lower-level court or a government officer to mandate that proper laws
are followed. Mandamus might be given if an official is not using his position
appropriately or if a court is not following the laws of the state or country. This
writ (also called the writ of mandate) ensures that the government and the
individuals in charge are performing their functions properly.

Writ of Quo Warranto:

The writ of quo warranto enables enquiry into the legality of the claim which a
person asserts, to an office or franchise and to oust him from such position if he
is a usurper. The holder of the office has to show to the court under what
authority he holds the office. If a person claims that he has the power of a public
office without any legality behind it, he is issued a quo warranto. After the writ
has been given, the person must show by what authority he has asserted his
claim. It is
Issued when
(a) The office is of public and of a substantive nature;
(b) Created by statute or by the Constitution itself,
(c) The respondent has asserted his claim to the office.

Verdict of the Sindh Court:

Chief Court of Sindh granted him both these writs in favour of Moulvi
Tammizuddin and against Governor General and his newly appointed cabinet.
As this decision was against the Government, so they challenged the decision of
Chief Court of Sindh in the Apex court, which was Federal Court of Pakistan at
that time.

Appeal in Federal Court:

An appeal on Sindh courts opinion was filed by the government in Federal
Court Rawalpindi. The government was represented by Sir Edward Diplock and
advised by Sir Ivor Jennings. Moulvi Tammizuddin Khan was represented by I.I
Chundrigarh
Federal court as headed by Chief Justice Mohammad Munir.

Verdict:
With the majority of Four to one, federal court gave its verdict in favour of the
Governor General and the ruling of previous court i.e. Chief Court of Sindh was
made null and void. Federal court stayed away from the real issue of
constitutionality of the Governor Generals power to dissolve the constituent
assembly. Instead, it ruled over a technical point regarding the jurisdiction of the
Chief court of Sindh explaining that Sindh court had no jurisdiction to grant
writ of Mandamus and Quo Warranto to the affected party i.e. Moulvi
Tammizuddin Khan. It reversed the judgment of Sindh court on grounds that
Section 223A of the Government of India Act, 1935 as adapted in Pakistan by
virtue of which Sindh Court issued writ in favour of Tammizuddin Khan was
not yet a law because it had not received the assent of Governor General. Since
section 223A of the act had not received such assent, it was not a law and
therefore the Sindh Court had no power to issue the writs. Since the decision of
the majority of the Federal Court was based on invalidity of Section 223A of the
Government of India Act 1935 for which assent of the Governor General was
necessary, therefore, the court did not go into the other issues.

Dissenting Opinion of Justice A.R. Cornelius:

Justice A. R. Cornelius was the sole dissenting judge in the

landmark judgment handed down by the Supreme Court in the
Maulvi Tamizuddin case. That judgment altered the course of
politics in Pakistan forever and sealed the fate of
democracy.Justice A.R. Cornelius wrote a strong dissenting opinion stating
that there was no obligation that all laws made by the Constituent Assembly of a
constitutional nature required the assent of Governor General for their validity
and operations.

Conclusion:
To conclude the topic, we can say that the Decision of the Federal Court and its
implications were so severe that it nullified the seven years worth of legislation
of the constituent assembly in a single sweep of pen for almost as many as forty
six acts of the statute became null and void thus creating a legal vacuum.