Hon’ble Siddhartha Varma, J.—When House No. 132/473 situated at Babu Purawa Kanpur, District Kanpur Nagar, was sold on 13.2.2007 to the petitioner by the respondent No. 2 then the respondent No. 1, Jangle Wali Masjid, filed a suit being Original Suit No. 3227 of 2009 for a declaration declaring that the sale-deed dated 13.2.2007 was void. The petitioner filed an application under Order VII Rule 11 of the Code of Civil Procedure which was allowed by the Additional Civil Judge (S.D.), Court No. 2, Kanpur Nagar. However, the misc. appeal No. 17 of 2016 filed by the plaintiff-respondent No. 1 was allowed on 2.2.2017, against which order, the petitioner has filed the instant writ petition.

2. The sole question for consideration before this Court is as to whether the suit as was filed by the plaintiff was maintainable in the Civil Court.

3. For a proper appreciation of the controversy at hand, Sections, 51, 52, 83 and 85 would be relevant and so they are being reproduced here as under :

51. Alienation of 1[waqf] property without sanction of Board to be void.—[(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in the waqf deed, any lease of any immovable property which is waqf property, shall be void unless such lease is effected with the prior sanction of the Board:

Provided that no mosque, dargah, khanqah, graveyard, or imambara shall be leased except any unused graveyards in the States of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh where such graveyard has been leased out before the date of commencement of the Wakf (Amendment) Act, 2013 (27 of 2013).

(1A) Any sale, gift, exchange, mortgage or transfer of waqf property shall be void ab initio:

Provided that in case the Board is satisfied that any waqf property may be developed for the purposes of the Act, it may, after recording reasons in writing, take up the development of such property through such agency and in such manner as the Board may determine and move a resolution containing recommendation of development of such waqf property, which shall be passed by a majority of two-thirds of the total membership of the Board:

Provided further that nothing contained in this sub-section shall affect any acquisition of waqf properties for a public purpose under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (1 of 1894) or any other law relating to acquisition of land if such acquisition is made in consultation with the Board:

Provided also that—

(a) the acquisition shall not be in contravention of the Places of Public Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 (42 of 1991);

(b) the purpose for which the land is being acquired shall be undisputedly for a public purpose;

(c) no alternative land is available which shall be considered as more or less suitable for that purpose; and

(d) to safeguard adequately the interest and objective of the waqf, the compensation shall be at the prevailing market value or a suitable land with reasonable solatium in lieu of the acquired property.]

52. Recovery of [waqf] property transferred in contravention of Section 51.—(1) If the Board is satisfied, after making any inquiry in such manner as may be prescribed, that any immovable property of a [waqf] entered as such in the register of [waqf] maintained under Section 36, has been transferred without the previous sanction of the Board in contravention of the provisions of Section 51 [or Section 56], it may send a requisition to the Collector within whose jurisdiction the property is situate to obtain and deliver possession of the property to it.

(2) On receipt of a requisition under sub-section (1), the Collector shall pass an order directing the person in possession of the property to deliver the property to the Board within a period of thirty days from the date of the service of the order.

(3) Every order passed under sub-section (2) shall be served—

(a) by giving or tendering the order, or by sending it by post to the person for whom it is intended; or

(b) if such person cannot be found, by affixing the order on some conspicuous part