The petitioners are before this Court seeking a direction by

issuance of a writ in the nature of mandamus directing the 1^st

respondent/Karnataka State Board of Auqaf (8the Board9 for short)

to

take

over

the

management

of

the

2^nd

and

3^rd

respondents/Muslim Orphanage (hereinafter referred to as 8the

4

Orphanage9)) and hold elections from the stage it was stopped in

terms of issuance of calendar events. A further direction is sought

to approve the scheme of management dated 15.07.2021 and

appoint an Inquiry Officer to hold an enquiry to rectify the

illegalities or financial irregularities committed by the existing

committee of management in terms of the representation dated

27-07-2021.

2. Heard Sri R.S. Ravi, learned senior counsel appearing for

the petitioners, Sri P.S.Malipatil, learned counsel appearing for

respondents 1 and 4 and Sri Naveed Ahmed, learned counsel

appearing for respondent No.3.

3. Brief facts that lead the petitioners to this Court in the

subject petition, as borne out from the pleadings, are as follows:-

Petitioners 1, 2 and 4 claim to be patron members of the 2^nd

respondent/Orphanage and other petitioners claim to be life

members of the Orphanage by contributing membership fee of

Rs.25,000/- in case of patron members and Rs.2,000/- in case of

life members. The Orphanage was formed with an object to help

the destitute children belonging to Muslim community. The

5

Orphanage own several properties in Bangalore which are narrated

in the petition. The properties are used for the purpose of housing

children who are in destitute condition. The education is also taken

care of is what is averred in the petition. The issue does not

concern the manner in which the Orphanage is now running. It is

claimed

that

the

Orphanage

is

in

existence

since

1892.

Government of Karnataka appears to have issued a gazette

notification on 07-06-1965 registering the name of the Orphanage

as Muslim Orphanage. After the aforesaid gazette notification, the

Orphanage came under the control of the 1^st respondent/Board.

4. For the purpose of administration of the Institution a

scheme of management was registered with the Board. The scheme

of management of the said Auqaf property was the one that was in

force upto 2016. In the year 2016 the scheme of management

comes to be amended in terms of the amendment to the bye-laws

on 07-11-2016. It is contended that in terms of bye-laws

administration of the Orphanage is vested with the Executive

Committee elected by the members of the Orphanage in a General

Body Meeting. The term of the Executive Committee in terms of the

6

Bye-laws is three years. The election to the office of Executive

Committee in terms of the said bye-laws was held on 22-12-2016.

The body that was elected in terms of the said election was to

manage the affairs of the Orphanage up to 22-12-2019. The

Executive Committee of the Orphanage sought to conduct elections

and appointed a Returning Officer for conduct of elections before

the term of the Executive Committee could come to an end. The

calendar of events was notified by the Returning Officer on

22-10-2019 fixing the date of election as 17-11-2019.

5. The issuance of calendar of events by the Returning Officer

was challenged by some of the Members of the Orphanage by filing

an application in Application No.37 of 2019 before the Karnataka

Wakf Tribunal. The Tribunal grants stay of the election initially.

Later, it appears that the interim order of stay comes to be vacated

on 16-11-2019. It is contended that in view of vacation of interim

order, the Orphanage ought to have continued the elections from

the stage it was stopped i.e., issuance of calendar of events. The

4^th respondent/Returning Officer rescheduling the date of election to

24-11-2019 requests the Board to depute staff for conduct of

7

elections on 24-11-2019. The Board appears to have declined the

request of the 4^th respondent to send any staff to hold elections on

the ground that the Orpha