IMPORTANT POINT
The court ruled that proper inquiry and adherence to statutory procedures are essential for valid Waqf declarations, invalidating the notification in this case.

ORDER :

This writ petition has been filed to declare the action of the respondent No.2 in not releasing the said pending documents in respect of lands admeasuring Ac.0-34 gts., in Sy.No.331 and Ac.01-10 gts., in Sy.No.332, total admeasuring Ac.02-04 gts., situated in Khammam Urban Mandal, Khammam village and District and the land admeasuring Ac.0-06 gts., in Sy.No.332, Ac.01-16 gts., in Sy.No.335 and Ac.01-14 gts., in Sy.No.336 total admeasuring Ac.02-36 gts., in Khammam Urban Mandal, Khammam Village and District in the jurisdiction of Joint Sub-Registrar, Khammam on the ground that the said property is part of the Waqf gazette notification bearing No.4-A Supplement to part – II dated 25.01.1990 at Page No.143, Sl.No.10714 as arbitrary and illegal and consequently direct respondent no.2 to release the aforementioned pending documents without reference to the said Waqf Gazette notification.

Brief facts of the case:

2. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that one M.Vekataiah and M.Jayalaxmi are the absolute owners of the land admeasuring Ac.5-00 gts in Sy.Nos.331, 332, 335 and 336 situated at Khammam Revenue District and Mandal, Khammam Municipal town. Smt.M.Jayalaxmi who is the owner of Ac.02-36 gts., sold the said land to one G.Kishore (vide pending doc No.P.111/2009) and inturn he gave GPA to Chekuri Sridhar i.e., the third petitioner herein (vide pending doc No.P.324/2009). Thereafter, M.Venkataiah who is the owner of remaining Ac.02- 04 gts., sold the said land to N.Mallikarjun and inturn N.Mallikarjun have sold the said land to petitioner Nos.1 and 2 herein (vide pending doc No.P/37/2011 dated 15.02.2011).

3. It is submitted that by virtue of the said sale petitioner Nos.1 and 2 have become absolute owners of Ac.02-04 gts., whereas petitioner No.3 is GPA holder of G.Kishore and petitioner No.3 purchased Ac.0-06 gts., of land in Sy.no.332, Ac.01-16 gts., of land in Sy.no.335 and Ac.01-14 gts., of land in Sy.No.336 total admeasuring Ac.2-36 gts., through pending Doc.No.P/324/2009 dated 02.06.2009. It is further submitted that Joint Sub-Registrar i.e., respondent No.2 herein received the aforementioned documents, collected the requisite fees and kept the documents pending from the year 2009. Thereafter, when the petitioners have approached respondent No.2 to release the above documents, it was informed that the subject lands were part of the waqf Gazette Notification bearing No.4-A part-II dated 25.01.1990 at page 143, Sl.No.10714.

4. It is further submitted that after obtaining a copy of the Gazette Notification, it is submitted that Sy.Nos.270, 330, 331, 332, 335 and 336 were deliberately included in the aforesaid Gazette Notification. It appears way back in the year 1955, the said lands were already declared to be evacuee property by Ministry of Rehabilitation, Government of India and thus without conducting the proper enquiry the Gazette Notification was published in the year 1990.

5. Thereafter, a writ petition i.e., W.P.No.10449 of 2008 was filed by a person interested in Waqf and by order dated 10.02.2009, this Court disposed of the said writ petition as follows:

“It is no doubt true that the land referred to above was notified under the Waqf Act, through a notification dated 25.01.1990. However before that, the land was dealt with under the Administration of Evacuee Property Act, 1950 and it was allotted to a person displaced from Pakistan. The allottee in turn sold it in favour of third parties and ultimately respondents 5 and 6 have purchased it. The mere fact that the property was notified ignoring the rights of existing title-holders cannot confer any right.”

6. Accordingly, writ petition was disposed of with liberty to petitioner therein or respondent No.1/Waqf Board to work out their remedies before the Waqf tribunal. Thereafter the petitioner in W.P.No.10449 of 2008 moved Telangana Waqf Tribunal by way of filing O.S.No.31 of 2009 and the said suit was dismissed for default on 13.09.2022 in I.A.No.100 of 2018. Th