K ABDUL REHMAN Vs. LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE legality and/or validity of the notification issued by the Lt. Governor, A & N Islands on 2nd June, 2010 whereby five persons were appointed as members of the Wakf Board in the Union Territory of A & N Islands with immediate effect, has been challenged by the petitioner herein in this writ petition.

(2.) THE petitioner claims that since the petitioner represents an eminent Muslim organization, the petitioner has every right to file the instant writ petition. THE petitioner has complained that the selection of members of the Wakf Board was made by the concerned authority arbitrarily and in violation of provisions contained in Articles 14, 15, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India. THE petitioner further complains that the persons who were appointed as members of the said Board were not selected in accordance with the provisions of Wakf Act, 1995. Under such circumstances, the petitioner has filed this writ petition praying for quashing of the impugned notification.

(3.) BEFORE considering the legality of such appointment of the members in the Wakf Board, this Court wants to consider the locus of the petitioner to maintain this writ petition. The petitioner has not stated in the writ petition that he was aspirant for appointment as a member of the said Board from any of the categories as mentioned in Section 14 of the Wakf Act, 1995. The petitioner has also not claimed that though he had the right to be considered for such appointment as a member of the said Board but he was ignored. He simply stated in the writ petition that he has right to maintain the writ petition as he represents an eminent Muslim organization. In my considered view this solitary statement made by the petitioner in the writ petition, is not sufficient enough to establish his locus to maintain the writ petition. Unless the petitioner establishes that he was aspirant for such appointment and he was not considered though he was an eligible candidate for such appointment, his right to challenge the legality of appointment of the members in the Wakf Board, cannot be held to have matured, particularly when this writ petition was not filed in the nature of Public Interest Litigation. Thus, this Court holds that the petitioner has failed to establish his locus to maintain this writ petition. Let me now consider the merit of this writ petition with regard to the challenge regarding the legality of appointment of the members of the said Board in the light of the provision contained in Section 14 of the Wakf Act, 1995. For convenient understanding of the problem involved in this writ petition, this Court feels that Section 14 of the said Act should be set out hereunder. Accordingly, the said provision is quoted:-