OM PARKASH KAPUR Vs. THE COMPETENT OFFICER ETC.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Letters Patent Appeal is directed against the judgment and order of Hardyal Hardy, J., dismissing the petition filed by the Appellant under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution.

(2.) When disposing of the writ petition, the learned single Judge relied not on the documents on the record of the Court but also upon the official Government record. During the hearing of this appeal, learned Counsel for the parties freely relied upon both records without objection by the one party to the other doing so. And for the greater convenience of this Court, they filed copies of documents taken from the official Government record and have prayed that they are taken as supplementary material on the Courts record. The facts set out below are taken from the entire record before us. It is necessary to set them out in some detail in view of the contentions raised before us.

(3.) The "Exchange" is a building situated on The Mall, Simla. It consists of some shops and flats for business and residential purposes. A half -share in the building belonged to one Khan Bhadur Inayatullah, who later migrated to Pakistan. Accordingly that half -share was treated as evacuee property and therefore vested in the Custodian of Evacuee Property. The other half -share in the building is Muslim wakf property and belongs to the "Kashmiri Mosque" administered by the Respondent No. 3, the Trustees of the Muslim Trust Properties or, as they are commonly described, the Muslim Trust Committee.