The Kazis Act does not confer exclusive rights to perform the functions of a Kazi in the assigned areas and does not disqualify a person from appointment based on age or previous position as a Naib Kazi.

TIRATH S. THAKUR, J.

( 1 ) AN order dated 8th of May 1991 issued by the Government in , exercise of its powers under section 2 of the Kazis Act, 1880 appointing the petitioners in those two Writ Petitions as Kazis for the Villages mentioned therein is what has been brought under challenge in these Writ petitions. The challenge arises in the back ground of the following facts:one masaheba Bi was appointed as a Kazi for an area comprising 58 villages of Manvi Taluk in raichur District by the erstwhile Government of Hyderabad under the provisions of the Kazis act. Certain litigation against the appointment made appears to have started culminating in an order dated 18th of August 1987 passed by this Court in Writ Appeals Nos. 646 and 1459 of 1983. The said order settled the controversy between the parties based on a compromise arrived at between them, according to which Masaheba Bi was to continue to be the Kazi of Manvi taluk, whereas Asghar Hussain, petitioner in WP No. 12805/92 was to be her Naib Kazi to carry out the duties assigned to him by the Kaz. It is not disputed that apart from Asghar Hussain, masaheba Bi also appointed Shafiuddin Khadri Saheb, petitioner in WP No. 21429/92 as Naib kazi under her. With the death of Masaheba Bi in the year 1988, the position of the Kazi of the area fell vacant. The District Wakf Committee, Raichur, recommended the names of both Asghar hussain and Shafiuddin Kadri Saheb to the Government for appointment as Kazis of Manvi taluk, acting whereupon the Government, by its order dated 8th of May 1991 appointed both of them as Kazis in respect of the area comprising the Villages mentioned in the Annexure to the order. Both the appointees are unhappy and have come up against the said order. While petitioner in WP No. 12805/92 contends that the appointment of Moulvi Shafiuddin Khadri was improper and the distribution of the Villages irrational, the latter argues that the former was too old and physically incapacitated by illness to be considered worth an appointment as Kaz. According to him, the Government ought to have made only one appointment and entrusted the entire area in Manvi Taluk to him for being served as a Kaz.

( 2 ) I have heard the Learned Counsel for the parties.

( 3 ) THE appointments made under the impugned order are relatable to Section 2 of the Kazis Act, 1880, which empowers the State Government to appoint one or more Kazis for any local area if it appears to it that a considerable number of Muhammadan residing in any such area desire any such appointment to be made. The appointment has to be made in consultation with the muhammadan residents of such local area and the correctness of any appointment so made is left to be determined by the Government, whose opinion on the subject is made conclusive. Section 3 of the Act provides for appointment of Naib Kazis and empowers a Kazi appointed under section 2 to make any such appointment for the discharge of the functions attached to the Office of a Kazi throughout the whole or any portion of the local area for which he is appointed. Section 4 of the Act, however, is the most significant part of the short enactment. It provides that nothing contained in the Act nor any appointment made thereunder shall be deemed to confer any judicial or administrative powers on any Kazi or Naib Kazi appointed thereunder or render the presence of a Kazi or Naib Kazi necessary at the celebration of any marriage or the performance of any rite or ceremony or to prevent any person from discharging, any of the functions of a Kaz. Section 4 at this stage may be extracted:

"section 4: Nothing in Act to confer judicial or administrative powers; or to render the presence of Kazi necessary; or to prevent any one acting as Kazi-Nothing herein contained, and no appointment made hereunder, shall be deemed

(a) to confer any judicial or administrative powers on any Kazi or Naib Kazi appointed hereunder; or

(b) to render the presence of a Kazi or Naib necessary at

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