SAIYAD MAHER HUSEIN Vs. HAJI ALIMAHOMED JALALUDIN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These appeals arise in a suit Under Section 92 of the Civil Procedure Code relating to an institution known as the Fir Mushayak roza at Ahmedabad. Pir Mushayak was a Muhammadan saint who flourished in the seventeenth century. He originally belonged to Kadi but settled in Ahmedabad and died there. He was a notable religious teacher who gathered numerous disciples and wrote books which are the main foundations of the Momin sect of Muhammadans. He was buried outside the Sarangpur Gate at Ahmedabad where he had acquired some property. His tomb is an object of veneration to the devotees of the Momin faith and an uras is held every year on the anniversary of his death to which pilgrims come from Bombay and various parts of Gujarat. Apparently, there are no Momins to speak of in Ahmedabad itself.

(2.) Defendant No. 1 is the present head of the Momins and is a direct descendant of Pir Mushayak. He resides at Palanpur and occasionally visits Ahmedabad. The Momin. community is divided into groups called after certain villages. The plaintiffs who belong to the Patanwada group are in the position of dissenters. They have challenged the orthodoxy of the present pir and oppose his claim to be regarded as a hayat or living pir. Consequently, they have suffered some kind of excommunication, and at one time it was contended that they were disqualified from instituting this suit. That contention, however, has been given up.

(3.) The details of the pleadings have been given in the judgment of the lower Court. Briefly, the plaintiffs case is that several properties were dedicated to Pir Mushayak which he in turn dedicated to God ; that five survey numbers specified in the plaint have been dedicated to the pir or to the dargah and are wakf ; that defendant No. 1 has claimed these properties as his own and has granted a permanent lease of one of them to defendant No. 2 and has thereby been guilty of a breach of trust which makes it necessary that he should be removed from management; and that a scheme should be framed for administration of the trust properties.