State Of Andhra Pradesh (Now State Of Telangana) vs A. P. State Wakf Board

Judicial Analysis Court Copy Headnote Facts Arguments Court observation

2022 Supreme(SC) 132

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
(From the High Court of A.P. at Hyderabad)
HEMANT GUPTA, V. RAMASUBRAMANIAN, JJ.
State Of Andhra Pradesh (Now State Of Telangana) - Appellant
Versus
A.P. State Wakf Board & Ors. - Respondents
Civil Appeal No. 10738, 10768 to 10777 of 2016
Decided on : 07-02-2022

Advocates appeared:
For the Parties(s) :V. Giri, P. Venkat Reddy, Prashant Kumar Tyagi, P. Srinivas Reddy, Ms. Ankita Gupta, M/S. Venkat Palwai Law Associates, Huzefa A. Ahmadi, Nakul Dewan, Ejaz Maqbool, Ms. Akriti Chaubey, Saif Zia, Ms. Shahrukh Alam, Rohan Sharma, Rohan Andrew Naik, Ms. Smriti Kalra, Abu Akram, Ms. Tanya Shree, C.S. Vaidyanathan, Ms. Bina Madhavan, Sweena Nair, P. Mohith Rao, S. Udaya Kumar Sagar, Salman Khurshid, S. Wasim A. Qadri, Lakshmi Raman Singh, . Tamim A. Qadri, Saeed Qadri, Ms. Lubna Naaz, Aman Khullar, Ms. Shama Usmani, Randeep Rai, Abhinav Agnihotri, Dipan Sethi, Ms. Rubina Virmani, Sunil Fernandes, Basavaprabhu S. Patil, Anirudh Sanganeria, Vikas Mehta, Adith Nair, Apoorv Khator, Bhaskar Nayak, V. Prabhakar, Rajat Sehgal, Ms. Jyoti Parashar, N.J. Ramchandra, Francis Ilango, Ranjit Kumar, Deepak Khurana, Ms. Nishtha Wadhawa, Umesh Kumar Khaitan, Anoop Chaudhary, Varinder Kumar Sharma, Varun Thakur, Ms. Parul Sharma, Bikash Chandra, Brijesh Pandey, Salman Khan, Yugal Prasad, P.K. Singh, Ms. Shraddha Saran, Shantanu Sharma, Ashish Dholakia, Akash Panwal, P.S. Sudheer, Bharat Sood, Ms. Shruti Jose, Santanam Swaminadhan, Hirendranath, Ms. Abhilasha Shrawat, Prakruti Golechha, Mrs. Aarthi Rajan, Smt. Laxmi Arvind, Arvind Kumar, Pradeep Kumar Mathur, Khushant Wadhwa, M.K. Tiwari, Chiranjeev Johri, Rambabu, N. Eswara Rao, Ms. Prity Kumari, M/s. M. Rambabu & Co, Mahfooz A. Nazki, Dr. Lalit Bhasin, Ms. Nina Gupta, Ms. Ananya Marwah, Ms. Ruchika Joshi, Mudit Sharma, K. Ramamoorthy, M.A. Chinnasamy, C. Rubavathi, M. Veeraragavan, P. Rajaram, Kulwant Singh Narwal, V. Senthil Kumar, Ch. Leela Sarveswar, Venkatasamy, Dheeraj Nair, Ms. Avni Sharma, Manoj C. Mishra, M. Shoeb Alam, Guntur Prabhakar, Kunal Verma, Ms. Yugandhara Pawar Jha, Ashwin Kumar Nair, Satya Mitra, G. N. Reddy, T. V. Ratnam, P. Vinay Kumar, Kunal Verma, Sunil Fernandes, Vikas Mehta, Varinder Kumar Sharma, Guntur Prabhakar, Umesh Kumar Khaitan, Mrs. Laxmi Arvind, S.. Udaya Kumar Sagar, M/S. M. Rambabu And Co., Ejaz Maqbool, Manoj C. Mishra, M. Shoeb Alam, Kunal Verma, Mrs. Aarthi Rajan, Sunil Fernandes, Satya Mitra, G. N. Reddy, T. V. Ratnam, Lakshmi Raman Singh, Mrs. Laxmi Arvind, Guntur Prabhakar, P. Vinay Kumar, Sumanth Nookala, Dheeraj Nair, M/S. Venkat Palwai Law Associates, S.. Udaya Kumar Sagar, Mudit Sharma, Anirudh Sanganeria, Advocates

Headnote:(A) Andhra Pradesh Wakf Act, 1995 - Section 5(2) - Abolition of Jagirs Regulation, 1358 F - Commutation Regulation, 1359 F - Errata notification published 6.4.2006 challenged - The State of Andhra Pradesh and the Corporation appealed against the High Court order dismissing their writ petitions against the said notification. The Court found that the Errata notification was actually a new notification and quashed it, asserting the lands vested in the State under the Abolition Regulations despite competing claims of Wakf status. The original grant of service to a Dargah does not confer everlasting rights in the absence of clear dedication; hence the Apportionment laws apply, leading to the conclusion that the land was no longer a Wakf. (Paras 7, 104-174).

(B) Jurisdiction of the Writ Court - The High Court has discretion to issue writs even in the presence of alternative remedies, particularly in cases involving matters of public interest and jurisdictional errors, which apply here since the State Government was found to have ownership rights over disputed lands. (Paras 119-124).

Table of Content
1. appeals against high court order (Para 1)
2. historical context of hyderabad's administration (Para 4 , 5)
3. legislative background and rights regarding jagirs (Para 11 , 24)

JUDGMENT :

HEMANT GUPTA, J.

CIVIL APPEAL NOS. 10770 OF 2016, 10738 OF 2016, 10768 OF 2016, 10769 OF 2016, 10773 OF 2016, 10775 OF 2016 AND 10776-10777 OF 2016

1. The present appeals are directed against an order passed by the High Court of Judicature at Andhra Pradesh on 3.4.2012¹[2012 SCC On Line AP 704] whereby the writ petitions challenging the Errata Notification dated 13.3.2006, published in the Official Gazette of the State of Andhra Pradesh on 6.4.2006 on behalf of Andhra Pradesh Wakf Board²[For Short “Wakf Board”], were dismissed. The said notification reads thus:

“THE ANDHRA PRADESH GAZETTE PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY HYDERABAD, THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 2006

Part-I Notifications by Government Heads of

Departments

And other Officers

CONTENTS

xxxx xx

ERRATA NOTIFICATION OF DARGAH NZT HUSSAIN SHAH VALI, MANIKONDA (V), RAJENDARANAGAR (M), R.R. DISTRICT

F. No. M1/69/PROT/RR/04 – In the Notification published in A.P. Gazette No. 6-A, dated 9-2-1989 at page No. 262 under Sl. No. 3057, 3058 and 3059 the service Inam lands attached to the subject institution were not notified. Hence the following addendum is notified.

ADDENDUM
For Column 10, 11 and 12 (10) Sy. No. –(10) Sy. No.	Read Column No. 10, 11 and 12 59, 65, 71, 102, 185, 186, 187, 188
(11) Extent Dry	189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195
(12) Extent Wet -	196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226, 227, 228, 229, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237, 240, 241, 242, 244, 246, 247, 249, 250, 251, 252, 254, 256, 256, 257, 248, 258, 259, 260, 263, 264, 265 and 266 of Manikonda (V) Rajendranagar (M) RR District attached to D. Hazrath Hussain Shah Vali (11) Total Extent Ac:-1654.32 Gts
Hyderabad 13-3-2006	(Sd/-) Chief Executive Officer”

2. The above Errata notification was challenged by the then State of Andhra Pradesh, now State of Telangana³[For short, “the State”] and the Andhra Pradesh (now Telangana) Infrastructure Development Corporation⁴[For Short, “the Corporation”] by filing Writ Petition No. 23578 of 2007 before the High Court. Civil Appeal No. 10770 of 2016 herein is preferred by the State against the order passed by the High Court in the said writ petition whereas the Corporation as transferee from the State of Andhra Pradesh in 1995 has filed Civil Appeal No. 10769 of 2016.

3. Civil Appeal Nos. 10776-10777 of 2016 have been preferred by a university to whom the State had transferred 200 acres of land situated in the village Manikonda on 18.3.1998 for the purpose of setting up of a University. Civil Appeal No. 10773 of 2016 is filed on behalf of transferee M/s Emaar Hills Township P. Ltd inter-alia on the ground that on 6.11.2002, the appellant and the Corporation had signed a Memorandum of Understanding setting out the principal terms and structure for the development of the Integrated Project situated at Manikonda village. The possession of land measuring 535 acres was handed over to such appellant on 29.11.2005 on which the appellant has developed a township. Writ Petition No. 4515 of 2008 was filed by Lanco Hills Technology Park Pvt. Ltd and Civil Appeal No. 10768 of 2016 arises out of the said Writ Petition. Civil Appeal No. 10768 of 2016 and Civil Appeal No. 10775 of 2016 have been filed on behalf of transferees of the Corporation. Civil Appeal No. 10738 of 2016 and Civil Appeal Nos. 10776-10777 of 2016 are directed against an order passed by the High Court in exercise of its revisional jurisdiction against an interim order passed by the Andhra Pradesh Wakf Tribunal⁵[For Short, the “Wakf Tribunal”]

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2022 Supreme(SC) 132

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA(From the High Court of A.P. at Hyderabad)HEMANT GUPTA, V. RAMASUBRAMANIAN, JJ.State Of Andhra Pradesh (Now State Of Telangana) - AppellantVersusA.P. State Wakf Board & Ors. - RespondentsCivil Appeal No. 10738, 10768 to 10777 of 2016Decided on : 07-02-2022

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
(From the High Court of A.P. at Hyderabad)
HEMANT GUPTA, V. RAMASUBRAMANIAN, JJ.
State Of Andhra Pradesh (Now State Of Telangana) - Appellant
Versus
A.P. State Wakf Board & Ors. - Respondents
Civil Appeal No. 10738, 10768 to 10777 of 2016
Decided on : 07-02-2022