Big victory for Waqf Board! SC overturns High Court order, bans purchase and sale of land

The Supreme Court has given a very important and big decision regarding the ownership rights of Waqf properties. The apex court has made it clear that the lands belonging to mosques or religious institutions which are called “Service Inam” are actually part of the Waqf property. The court bluntly said that such properties can neither be sold nor donated to anyone.

Religious trust has rights A bench of Justice MM Sundresh and Justice AG Masih gave this historic judgment in a case from Andhra Pradesh. The court said that it is completely undisputed that when any land is given as a “reward for service” for religious or charitable purposes, it becomes donated property. Such land is acquired by a public or religious trust, due to which private ownership is lost and it becomes legally impossible to sell it.

Andhra Pradesh High Court’s decision canceled This case was related to an appeal of Andhra Pradesh Waqf Board. Hearing this, the Supreme Court canceled the old decision of the Andhra Pradesh High Court and reinstated the decision of the Waqf Tribunal, in which the land was declared as Waqf property. The case pertained to three acres of land in Kurnool district, which was given for the services of “Buddha-Buddhi Masjid” and stables. The main dispute was whether this land was private property or Waqf property.

What was the whole controversy and the game of ‘sale deed’? In this case, the plaintiff named Janaki Basappa had filed a case in the Waqf Tribunal. He had declared his ownership rights on this land on the basis of ‘sale deeds’ executed in 1985 and 1996. On the other hand, the Waqf Board said that this land was originally given for mosque purposes and is recorded in the records as “Seva Inam”. The Waqf Board had given this land to ‘Jamaat Ahle Hadith’ to build Eidgah. In this case, an old document of the partition of 1945 became the main evidence, in which the land was clearly described as a service reward.

Supreme Court caught the mistake of High Court Earlier, while giving its verdict against the Waqf Board, the High Court had said that the board had failed to prove the ownership rights. But the Supreme Court called it a big mistake of the High Court. Referring to old decisions, the top court said that under Muslim law, land given for sacred or religious purposes gets the status of “Waqf”. The court clearly said that the High Court did not read the partition document properly, in which it was clearly written that this land is related to the mosque and it cannot be considered as independent ownership.