Summary
A claimant sought to change the recorded character of a registered wakf after expiry of one year from publication of the statutory list. The Court held that the challenge fell within Section 6 of the 1954 Act and its special limitation, notwithstanding the request to declare the property a family wakf. The separate two-month notice provision for suits against the Board did not govern this statutory-list dispute. Dismissal as time-barred was upheld.
Issues
- Whether a dispute about the recorded character of the wakf attracted Section 6’s one-year limitation.
- Whether the general limitation argument or Section 56 notice period saved the suit.
Provisions considered
- Sections 5(2) and 6, Wakf Act, 1954The statutory list published after survey was challengeable through Section 6 within its prescribed one-year period; the recorded-character dispute did not escape that limit. (¶¶ 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
- Section 56, Wakf Act, 1954The notice requirement concerned other Board actions and did not extend the time for the Chapter II statutory-list challenge. (¶¶ 16, 21)
Held
- The survey followed hearing of the parties, and its report was not independently challenged in the suit. The declaratory suit was admittedly instituted more than a year after Gazette publication of the wakf list. (¶¶ 4, 5, 14, 15, 18, 19)
- A contention that the registered property was family wakf rather than Wakf-Al-Allah remained a dispute within Section 6. General residual limitation could not replace the statutory period for that challenge. (¶¶ 17, 20)
- Section 56 governed suits concerning Board acts outside the specific Chapter II mechanism. Its two-month notice period had no application to, and could not save, this late challenge. (¶ 21)
Result
The appeal was dismissed, affirming the concurrent dismissal of the suit as barred by limitation. Pending applications were disposed of.