Lawyer Gurdial Singh Nijar, who represented Family Frontiers and the mothers, said judge Akhtar Tahir dismissed the application today, saying there were no special circumstances to adjourn the hearing, which has been fixed for Tuesday.

“The judge dismissed the application with no order to costs,” he told FMT.

Gurdial said the trial should proceed expeditiously as important constitutional issues would be adjudicated.

Meanwhile, the Court of Appeal will hear the government’s appeal tomorrow following Akhtar’s decision on May 6 to hear the case on substantive issues before ruling on it.

The government filed the appeal the following day at the Court of Appeal to overturn the judge’s decision.

Akhtar had ruled that the hearing should proceed because there seemed to be discrimination against the mother (in passing her citizenship to her children) but there was no justification for it.

Should the appellate court allow the government’s appeal, the proceedings on Aug 24 would have to be postponed.

However, the trial will proceed if the appeal is dismissed, unless the government obtains a stay.

Family Frontiers and the mothers had filed the suit to get the court to declare several provisions – namely Article 14(1)(b) and Sections 1(b) and 1(c) under the Second Schedule of the Constitution –  invalid because they are discriminatory against women.

They claimed that the Constitution only allowed a father to pass his citizenship to his children born outside the federation, but a mother cannot do so.