KAWSAR ALAM MUTWALI Vs. STATE OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These two Rules raise the question of applicability of the West Bengal Estates Acquisition Act to a wakf estate. Both Rules relate to the wakf estate created by the same deed, namely, a registered deed of wakf executed by one Nizamuddin on April 25, 1947.

(2.) It is a notice issued under Sec. 10(2) of the West Bengal Estate Acquisition Act (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') which has brought the Petitioners, who are the mutwalis of the above estate, to Court. -The Petitioners' case is that the notice is without jurisdiction since under Sec. 6(1)(i) of the Act, an institution established exclusively for religious and charitable purposes cannot be vested in the Government under the provisions of the Act. On receipt of the notice the Petitioners preferred objection to the Collector under Sec. 10(2) of the Act which, however, was rejected on the ground that the wakf did not create an institution exclusively for religious or charitable purposes, but personal benefits were reserved by the deed to the wakf and his family members and that, accordingly, the estate was not entitled to the benefit of Sec. 6(1)(i). The Petitioners' appeal from the aforesaid order to the Commissioner has also been rejected and the reasons given by the Collector have been affirmed.

(3.) It has been urged before me that under Mahammedan law a valid deed of wakf vests the property in God and that Allah is not a juristic person like a deity under the Hindu law, and that, consequently, the definition of an 'intermediary' under Sec. 2(i) of the Act would not apply to the mulwali who merely holds the wakf estate as a manager.