Date:07/03/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/03/07/stories/2007030709731400.htm

National

Wakf cannot be revoked, rules Supreme Court

New Delhi : The Supreme Court has ruled that once a wakf property is created it cannot be subsequently transferred or extinguished even by the wakif (maker of the will). ``Once a wakf is created, the wakif stands divested of his title to the properties which after the creation of the wakf vests in the Almighty,'' a Bench of Justices Tarun Chatterjee and Altamas Kabir said while dismissing an appeal filed against an Allahabad High Court judgment which had held a similar view.

The property in question originally belonged to one Mohammed Haider who created wakf of his entire properties in 1926 and appointed his son Piarey Mirza as its Mutwalli (Manager). The said property was registered as wakf property under Section 38 of the U.P. Muslim Wakfs Act and was subsequently entrusted to the care of the Board of Wakfs.

But in 1958, Haider, who apparently had a change of mind, obtained a fresh decree from a court declaring the wakf property in his and son Mirza's name which was subsequently sold it to the appellant Chhedi Lal Misra. — PTI