KERALA WAQF SAMRAKSHANA VEDHI Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioners challenge a Government Order appointing a Commission of Inquiry under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952 in relation to a property claimed to have been dedicated as waqf. Since the issues involved in these two writ petitions are almost identical, they are disposed of by this common judgment.

(2.) The Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952, (for brevity 'the CoI Act') confers power upon the appropriate Government to appoint a Commission to inquire into 'definite matter of public importance'. In exercise of the said power, Justice C.N. Ramachandran Nair, a former Judge of this Court, has been appointed as per Ext.P1, to inquire into the issues referred to in the said Government Order.

(3.) Writ petitioners allege that the dispute now sought to be inquired into by the Commission relates to a waqf property, situated in Survey No.18/1 of Vadakkekara Village, which was the subject matter of O.S. No.53 of 1967 on the files of the Sub Court, North Paravur. In a judgment dtd. 12/7/1971, the trial court concluded that the document produced therein as Ext.P31 was not a gift deed but a waqf deed. The appeal against the said judgment was dismissed by a Division Bench of this Court in A.S. No.600/1971 on 30/9/1975. According to the petitioners, as a waqf property, the State Government is not the competent authority to appoint a Commission of Inquiry.