BAQRIDAN Vs. BASHIR AHMAD KHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This, is a plaintiffs' appeal arising out of a suit for a declaration that plaintiff 1 was the 'mutwalli' of the mosque in dispute and none of the defendants had any connection with the mutwalliship; that Amanullah, plaintiff 4, was the duty appointed Imam' of the mosque and none of the defendants had any right to 'Imamship'; and for a perpetual injunction restraining the defendants from interfering with the plaintiffs in going to the mosque and offering their prayers under the 'Imamship' of a person according to their choice, and for further direction to the defendants not to interfere with the management of the mosque by plaintiff 1. The suit was filed by eleven Muslim residents of the town of Chandauli, in the district of Banaras, as representatives of their community under Order 1, Rule 8 of Schedule I, Civil P. C. The defendants to the suit were one hundred and forty eight Muslims.

(2.) The plaintiffs' case was that the mosque was a public 'waqf,' that the Muhammadans or Bazar Chandauli had always been offering their prayers in it that Abdul Rahman, plaintiff 1, who resided in the vicinity of the mosque was managing the mosque as its 'mutwalli' with the consent of the worshippers and that defendant 1 who claimed to be the mutwalli' interfered with the management of the mosque by plaintiff 1 and with the functioning of plantiff 4 as 'pesh Imam'.

(3.) Some of the defendants contested the suit and alleged that Jangi Khan, father of defendants 1 to 3, was the 'mutwalli' of the mosque during his lifetime, and that after him defendant 1 was the present 'mutwalli'. The rights of plaintiff 1 to act as a 'mutwalli', and of plaintiff 4 to act as 'Pesh Imam' were disputed.