ABDUR RAHMAN Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The prayers of the petitioner in the writ petition read as under :-

(2.) Mr. Anis Akhtar, learned counsel has appeared for the petitioner, Mr. Helal Ahmad, learned counsel has appeared for the Bihar State Sunni Waqf Board (for short "the Board"), Mr. Khatim Raza, learned counsel has appeared for the private respondent no. 7 Bibi Anisha Khatoon and Mr. Ajit Kumar, learned A.C. to Government Advocate-7 has appeared for the State.

(3.) The brief facts of the case are that one Haji Gaushan Ali executed a registered deed of Waqf in favour of village mosque situated at village- Gopalpur @ Chak Haji Sunder on 09.07.1906 with respect to certain properties for upkeep of the said mosque and stipulated a line of succession. The said Waqf was registered in the Board as Waqf Estate No.446. Vide paragraph-5 of the said Waqf deed, it was stipulated that Haji Gaushan Ali shall remain as Mutwalli of the Waqf property during his lifetime and after his death Md. Haroon shall succeed as Mutawalli and after his death, Md. Ibrahim and, thereafter, Md. Yaqub shall be the Mutawalli and after the death of all those three persons, Aulad-e-Akbar from Md. Haroon shall become the Mutawalli and in case, Md. Haroon remained issueless then the Aulad-e-Akbar of Md. Ibrahim and if Md. Ibrahim remained issueless then Aulad-e-Akbar of Md. Yaqub shall become Mutawalli and this pattern of line of succession shall continue for the purpose of appointment of Mutawalli of the said Waqf Estate. Accordingly, as per recital of the Waqf deed, upon the death of Md. Haroon, the grandfather of respondent no. 7 Bibi Anisa Khatoon, her father Abdur Rahman was made Mutawalli. After death of Abdur Rahman, the petitioner Abdur Rahman, son of late Abdul Ghani was appointed as Mutawalli in 1996. Subsequently, respondent no. 7 Bibi Anisha Khatoon represented before the Board claiming that the petitioner is male descendant from Md. Ibrahim and by misleading interpretation of Waqfnama, he projected that there was no male child from the branch of Md. Haroon especially from Abdur Rahman and, hence, being the only male child from the branch of Md. Ibrahim, he was entitled to become Mutawalli. According to her, after demise of her father Abdur Rahman, it was to be seen as to who was legally entitled to become Mutawalli as per Waqfnama. Respondent no. 7 also made complaint against the petitioner for committing misappropriation of the Waqf Estate. On receipt of such complaint, the Board appointed one Md. Kalimuddin, an inspector of the Board to enquire into the complaint. The inquiring officer inquired into the allegations by visiting the place on 15.11.2001 and submitted his report on 07.01.2002 after collecting evidences to the Board.