ABRAR JUMA MAZJID MYLOOR KARA Vs. MYLOOR JUMA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner herein is the defendant in O.S.No. 490 of 2014 pending on the files of the Munsiff Court, Muvattupuzha. The said suit has been filed for recovery of possession of the madrassa building from the petitioner herein and also for injunction. The petitioner herein took up a contention in the written statement filed therein, to the effect that the Munsiff Court lacks jurisdiction on the subject matter involved therein and the matters in issue fall within the jurisdiction of the Wakf Tribunal. In that view of the matter, they filed Ext. P5 petition before the Munsiff Court praying for consideration of the preliminary issue regarding the maintainability of the suit. It is the delay in the matter of its consideration that constrained the petitioner to approach this Court by filing the captioned original petition mainly with the following prayer:-

(2.) We have heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and also the learned counsel for the respondent.

(3.) The learned counsel for the respondent/plaintiff in O.S.No. 490 of 2014 contended that in the light of the provisions under sections 6 and 7 of the Wakf Act, it cannot be said that as regards the matter in issue, there is ouster of jurisdiction of the civil court. Essentially, the contention of the learned counsel is to the effect that the bar of jurisdiction contained in section 85 of the Wakf Act pertains only to the matters covered by sections 6 and 7 of the Wakf Act and therefore, in respect of other matters, there is no exclusion of jurisdiction of the civil court. To fortify the said contention, the learned counsel relied on the decision of the Apex Court in Ramesh Gobindram v. Sugra Humayun Mirza Wakf [2010 (3) KLT 862 (SC)] . The learned counsel for the petitioner/defendant therein contended that a scanning of the said decision itself would reveal the hollowness of the aforesaid contention. In such circumstances, it is evident from the rival contentions that the question is whether there is exclusion of the jurisdiction of the civil court or not.