MUHAMMAD RUSTAM ALI Vs. MUSHTAQ HUSAIN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) ON August 25, 1908, Nawab Azmat Ali Khan executed a wakfnama, or deed of charitable trust, dedicating specific property, of the stated value of Rs. 20,000 for religious purposes. The said Nawab Azmat Ali Khan resided at Karnal, in the Punjab, and early in August of 1908 the Deputy Commissioner of Karnal intimated that he thought it expedient to place the Nawab and his property under the Court of Wards. The Nawab thereupon moved--it is alleged he was taken by his servants, but this is no longer material--to the District of Muzaffarnagar, beyond the jurisdiction of the Deputy Commissioner of Karnal. But the Deputy Commissioner proceeded to act under the Punjab Court of Wards Act, and in purported pursuance of the powers thereby conferred he issued an injunction on August 30, 1908, restraining the Nawab or any authorized agent from executing any deed of alienation until the further order of the Court. Notwithstanding this direction the wakfnama was, on September 1, 1908, registered before the sub-registrar of Muzaffarnagar. On November 9, 1908 the said Nawab executed a further document purporting to appoint trustees of the charity to which his property had been dedicated under the deed of August 25.

(2.) THE Nawab died on December 26, 1908, and the appellants, who were his step-brothers, claimed, in competition with the trustees for the charity and his widows, to inherit the estate and applied for mutation of names, which was ordered in their favour on May 11, 1909, the Collector stating that the parties claiming under the deed of gift, and the widows, who claimed under a deed of sale, could sue in the civil Courts.

(3.) THIS claim gave rise to a series of controversies with which it is unnecessary for their Lordships to deal, for, apart from three questions of law, the other disputes depended upon the determination of questions of fact which have been decided adversely to the defendants in both the Courts. The Subordinate Judge delivered judgment in favour of the plaintiffs (the respondents) and the learned Judges of the High Court affirmed his judgment. From the judgment of the High Court this appeal has been brought.