Habib Alladin & Ors. v. Mohammed Ahmed

 Background

The first appellant, owner of a residential apartment complex, disputed the respondent’s claim that a portion of the ground floor constituted a mosque used for public prayers since 2008. Alleging obstruction in 2021, the respondent filed a suit for perpetual injunction asserting the premises to be a wakf by user. The appellants sought rejection of plaint under Order VII Rule 11 CPC, contending that the property was neither notified nor registered as wakf and that the Wakf Tribunal lacked jurisdiction. The High Court dismissed the challenge, holding that the pleadings disclosed a wakf by user under s. 3(r)(i), Wakf Act, 1995 .

 

Issues Framed

1. Whether the Wakf Tribunal has jurisdiction under the Wakf Act, 1995 to entertain a suit for injunction simpliciter in respect of a property not included in the ‘list of auqaf’ or registered under the Act.
2. Whether s. 83 Wakf Act confers an independent and expansive jurisdiction enabling the Tribunal to determine wakf status of unlisted properties.
 

Court’s Reasoning

Issue 1: Scope of Tribunal’s jurisdiction under ss. 6, 7, 83 and 85

(i) Legal Rule / Test
The Court reaffirmed that civil court jurisdiction is the ruleand ouster is exceptional, operating only to the extent matters are “required by or under the Act to be determined by a Tribunal” (s. 85 Wakf Act). Jurisdiction of the Tribunal to decide whether a property is wakf property arises only when such property is specified in the ‘list of auqaf’, as understood under ss. 6 and 7 Wakf Act.

(ii) Application to Facts
The plaint itself admitted that the alleged mosque came into existence only in 2008 and that the property was neither surveyed nor notified nor registered as wakf. In such circumstances, the Tribunal could not first assume jurisdiction to declare wakf status and then grant injunction. A declaration of wakf status is jurisdictionally anterior, and in the absence of statutory inclusion, such declaration lies before the civil court, not the Tribunal. 

(iii) Counterarguments Addressed
The respondent’s reliance on wakf by user and decennial survey lapses was rejected. The Court clarified that even if wakf by user is recognised substantively, the forum for adjudication remains governed by ss. 6 and 7, read with the definition of list of auqaf.

 

Issue 2: Whether s. 83 creates an omnibus jurisdiction

(i) Legal Rule / Test
Section 83 is procedural and enabling, concerned with constitution of tribunals. It does not itself confer substantive jurisdiction beyond what is expressly provided elsewhere in the Act. The words “relating to a wakf or wakf property under this Act” are limiting, not expanding.

(ii) Precedents and Doctrinal Analysis
The Court held that Anis Fatma Begum adopted an interpretation of s. 83 directly contrary to Ramesh Gobindram without reference to a larger Bench, contrary to the discipline mandated in Pranay Sethi. Subsequent reliance on that line of cases was found doctrinally unsound.

(iii) Effect of 2013 Amendment
The substitution of s. 3(g) expanding list of auqaf to include properties registered under s. 37 was held clarificatory and retrospective. However, this only widened the category of listed properties—it did not authorise the Tribunal to adjudicate wakf status of properties entirely outside statutory recognition.

(iv) Treatment of Rashid Wali Beg
The Court expressly disagreed with Rashid Wali Beg to the extent it held that s. 83 independently empowers the Tribunal to decide all wakf-related disputes. The tabulation in para 54 of that judgment was approved except items 54.17–54.19, which were held inconsistent with Ramesh Gobindram.

 

Decision 

The appeal was allowed. The plaint seeking injunction was held not maintainable before the Wakf Tribunal, and the rejection under Order VII Rule 11 CPC was warranted.

 

Ratio

The Wakf Tribunal has jurisdiction to determine wakf status or grant consequential reliefs only in respect of properties included in the statutory ‘list of auqaf’ (including those registered under s. 37), and s. 83 of the Wakf Act does not confer an independent or omnibus jurisdiction to adjudicate wakf claims or grant injunctions concerning unlisted properties.

Case Details

• Citation: 2026 INSC 90
• Decided on: 28 January 2026
• Case Title: Habib Alladin & Ors. v. Mohammed Ahmed
• Court: Supreme Court of India
• Bench: K. Vinod Chandran, J.

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