Point of Law: Every muslim is entitled to get a decent burial according to civil rights and graveyard under supervision of 1st defendant is a public graveyard, any muslim or any member of 1st defendant has a right to bury dead.

ORDER :

Defendants 1 and 2 in W.O.S.No.64 of 2007 on the files of the Wakf Tribunal, Ernakulam, are the revision petitioners, and the respondents 1 to 3 herein were plaintiffs 1 and 2 and 3rd defendant. The parties are referred to as they are arrayed before the Tribunal.

2. The suit was filed by the plaintiffs for declaration and injunction. The averments in the plaint, in brief, are as follows:

The plaintiffs are members and beneficiaries of Elappully Eranchery Jama-ath Palli. It is a wakf represented by the 1st defendant/president and 2nd defendant/secretary. When the plaintiffs and 40 members of the 1st defendant wakf attended a religious discourse conducted by the Kerala Naduvathul Mujahideen on 20.03.2007, the 1st defendant led by its president and secretary ex-communicated the plaintiffs and others of the Jama-ath. They imposed a ban on the members of the Jama-ath from participating in the marriage and their ceremonies to be held in the houses of the plaintiffs and others. They were also not allowed to bury the dead bodies of the plaintiffs, others and their family members. In connection with the burial of the dead body of one Mohammed, on 18.10.2007, there was a law and order problem and the RDO, Palakkad, Tahsildar, Circle Inspector and Sub Inspector of Police came to the plaint schedule property and mediated the matter and the dead body was buried. Thereafter a complaint was filed before the RDO for a permanent solution to the matter. On 03.11.2007, the RDO convened a joint meeting and took a decision directing the Jama-ath committee not to obstruct the burial of dead bodies of Mujahideen Sect, till they acquire an alternative burial ground of their own. Plaintiffs have no other Jama ath or burial ground. Plaintiffs apprehend that the defendants will obstruct the burial of dead bodies, hence the suit was filed for declaration of their right and prohibitory injunction.

3. Defendants 1 and 2 filed a joint written statement. The 1st defendant wakf is administered by the committee and the beneficiaries are the followers of Allahu Sunnathu Val Jama-ath. Plaintiffs were members of the 1st defendant Jama-ath and followers of Allahu Sunnath Val Jama-ath. Thereafter they changed to Kerala Naduvathul Mujahideen and attempted to transform the members of the 1st defendant Jama-ath into that organization. Kerala Naduvathul Mujahideen has got several religious institutions and wakf properties including mosque, madrasa, khabarsthan etc., of their own. They have got ample institutions and khabarstan to accommodate their believers and bury their dead bodies. Plaintiffs and their organisations have no legal right to bury the dead bodies in the khabarsthan of the 1st defendant Jama-ath. As per the agreement dated 03.11.2007, plaintiffs have waived their claim on the 1st defendant organization and its properties, hence prayed for dismissal of the suit.

4. The Tribunal raised 4 issues and based on Exts.A1 to A3 and the oral evidence of PWs 1 and 2 decreed the suit and it was declared that the plaintiffs and similarly situated persons have the right to prayers of the defendant mosque and to bury the dead bodies of the family members in the 1st defendant Jama-ath. The 1st defendant and their men were permanently restrained from obstructing the plaintiffs and similarly situated persons from conducting prayers in the mosque and burying the dead bodies of the family members of the khabarstan in the plaint scheduled property. Aggrieved by the said judgment and decree this revision is filed by the defendants 1 and 2.

5. The learned counsel for the petitioner Sri.P.Jayaram submits that the religious beliefs and practices of Allahu Sunnath Val Jama-ath and Kerala Naduvathul Mujahideen are different in many ways. The impugned judgment and decree rendered by the Wakf Tribunal for two different fractions offering prayers and conducting funerals in the same mosque and graveyard will disturb the public order, morality and health of the citizens of the muslim