KARNATAKA WAKFS PROTECTION Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Challenge in these writ petitions is to the appointment/nomination of the respondents 4, 5 and 6, as Members of the Karnataka State Board of Wakfs (for short 'the Board'), vide Notification No. MWD 237 WES 2011, Bangalore, dated 20.08.2011, of the Government of Karnataka. By the said notification, in exercise of the powers conferred under S. 14(9) of the Wakfs Act, 1995 (for short 'the Act') and Rule 32 of the Karnataka Wakfs Rules, 1997, the persons named therein were appointed as members of the Board for a period of five years under S. 15 of the Act. The present Act (Act 43 of 1995), which replaced the Wakfs Act, 1954 (29 of 1954) and the Wakfs (Amendment) Act, 1984 (69 of 1984) was enacted to provide for better administration of Wakfs and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

(2.) Wakfs and matters relating thereto were governed by the Wakfs Act, 1954. Because of the deficiencies noticed in working of the said enactment, especially those governing the Wakf Boards, their power of superintending and control over the management of the individual Wakfs, Parliament brought the comprehensive legislation, i.e., the present Act, 1995, for better administration of the Wakfs and the matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

(3.) The Karnataka State Board of Wakfs was established by the State Government, by a Notification published in the Official Gazette, in exercise of the power under S. 13 of the Act. S. 14 relates to composition of the Board. The said Section, prior to its amendment vide Act 27 of 2013 published in the Gazette of India dated 23.09.2013, in so far as, it relates to the present, is extracted hereunder: