ABDUL RAIS Vs. MADHYA PRADESH WAKF BOARD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted.

(2.) Appellants call in question legality of the judgment rendered by a learned single Judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, Indore Bench, holding that the petition filed by the appellants before the Madhya Pradesh State Wakf Tribunal, Bhopal (in short the Tribunal) was barred by time.

(3.) Factual position sans unnecessary details is as follows: On 27-12-1996, appellants filed an application before the Tribunal seeking a declaration that the suit property specified in Official Gazette (Wakf List) dated 13-9-1985 is in fact not a wakf property, but the said property exclusively belongs to the appellants. In essence, they sought for a declaration that they were Bhumiswami of the suit property which consisted of agricultural lands. Hence, the declaration is bad in law and not binding. The Madhya Pradesh Wakf Board (in short the Wakf Board) resisted the claim made, taking the stand that the applicants had no title. In any event, the application was hopelessly barred by time. It was their stand that the suit was not filed within one year from the date of publication in the Official Gazette as contemplated under Section 6 of the Wakf Act, 1954 (in short the Act) which was in force at the relevant time. Subsequently, the Wakf Act, 1995 has been enacted. The Tribunal allowed the application overruling the objections raised by the Wakf Board and held that the application was within time and the applicants had proved their title on facts and consequentially were entitled to the declaration as sought for. It was, therefore, held that the declaration made in the Official Gazette to the effect that the suit property was wakf property is bad and the applicants were the Bhumiswami of the suit land.