JUDGMENT :

V. RAMASUBRAMANIAN, J.

1. Aggrieved by the Judgment of the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, Lucknow Bench, holding that a suit for a permanent injunction before a civil court is not barred by Section 85 of the Waqf Act, 1995 (for short “the Act”) the defendant has come up with the above appeal.

2. We have heard Mr. Pradeep Misra, learned counsel for the appellant and Mr. Pradeep Kant, learned senior counsel for the first respondent.

3. The first respondent herein filed a suit in R.S. No. 137 of 2011 against the appellant herein as defendant No. 1 and impleading the respondents 2 to 5 herein as defendants 2 to 5. The suit was for a mandatory injunction directing the defendants to remove the encroachment made by them and for a permanent injunction restraining the defendants from interfering with the plaintiff’s possession of a piece of land situated at Mirzaganj, Pargana and Tehsil Malihabad, Lucknow. The suit was filed in the Court of Civil Judge, Senior Division, Malihabad. The case of the first respondent herein/plaintiff was that the suit property originally belo