NAWAB MOHAMMAD IBRAHIM KHAN Vs. AHMAD SAID KHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The following genealogical table will show the relation of the parties:

(2.) 1. Gulam Chishti Khan by his Will, dated 10 Safer 1281 Hijri, corresponding to the 16 June 1867, created a waqf of certain immovable property "to defray the expenses of the poor, the faqirs, the orphans, the needy and the indigent, and to defray the expenses of other good deeds". Regarding the trusteeship of the endowment, he in his Will said: "I covenant that as long as I am alive I shall continue to spend, with my own hands and of my own authority, the income derived from the said villages for the sake of God and that after me one of my male descendants who is qualified shall continue to spend it generation after generation in the way and manner in which I was doing."

(3.) During his life-time, Gulam Chishti Khan continued to manage the waqf property. After his death his son Abdul Karim Khan succeeded to the trusteeship. Abdul Karim Khan died on the 31 August 1903, Mohammed Ibrahim Khan, the plaintiff, Abdul Majid Khan and Ahmed Said Khan, the defendants, could not agree as to who should be the trustee of the property. Under a registered agreement of the 19 February 1909, the parties referred their dispute to arbitration. The arbitration made their award and the plaintiff under Section 20 Schedule II of the Civil P. C., applied to file the award in Court. Objections were taken by the defendants. The learned Subordinate Judge, in his order dated the 12th August 1909, came to the conclusion that the award was void in law and disallowed the application with costs. The plaintiff has appealed from that order to this Court. At the hearing of the appeal, an objection was taken on behalf of the respondents that the question of succession to the trusteeship of such a charity, as had been created by the Will of Gulam Chishti Khan, could not be referred to arbitration and that the learned Subordinate Judge, therefore, had no jurisdiction to entertain the application for filing the award in Court. This point Was not taken before the Court below, but as it is a very important point and will affect the administration of charities, we granted permission to argue the point.