The Allahabad High Court recently imposed costs of ₹15,000 on the Uttar Pradesh Shia Central Waqf Board after finding that it suppressed material facts in a revision petition pertaining to a residential house and an Imambara. .Justice Jaspreet Singh said that any person guilty of suppression and concealment can be thrown out of the litigation at any stage. "The conduct of the revisionist indulging in suppression of material facts relating to the writ petition filed at Allahabad, including an interim order granted by a Division Bench of this Court, cannot be appreciated. For all the aforesaid reasons, this Court finds that the revision sans merit and is accordingly dismissed with a cost of ₹15,000 to be deposited with the State Legal Services Authority within a period of two weeks from the date of pronouncement of the judgment," the Court ordered. .The Board had moved the High Court challenging the decision of the Waqf Tribunal to set aside an order to appoint Mutawallis for the disputed properties.The case originated in Bareilly, where in 1934, Nawab Mohammad Hussain Khan executed a waqf deed for 17 shops located adjacent to his residence (Kothi). Within the Kothi, there was an Imambara as well.Following his death, his daughter Nawab Anwar Jahan Begam filed a civil suit before the civil judge, Bareilly, challenging the validity of the waqf deed. The civil court in 1952 declared the 1934 waqf deed null and void.As per the Waqf Board, the decision only pertained to the 17 shops and not the residential place, including the Imambara. In 2015, it went on to appoint Mutawallis for the properties..This action was challenged by Nawab Tahawwur Ali Khan, the Nawab’s grandson, before the UP Waqf Tribunal in Lucknow. In April 2024, the Tribunal allowed the claim and quashed the Board’s 2015 order.Despite that, the Waqf Board is stated to have written to the District Magistrate/Additional Waqf Commissioner, Bareilly. Acting on the same, the Assistant Waqf Commissioner/Additional City Magistrate directed Huma Zaidi, the Nawab’s sole heir, to stop any construction or demolition at the site.Huma Zaidi challenged this direction before the Allahabad High Court. In January 2025, after hearing the Shia Waqf Board’s counsel, the Court stayed the order passed by the district officials.Shia Waqf Board, meanwhile, filed a revision plea in February 2025 before the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court, challenging the Waqf Tribunal’s April 2024 judgment. However, it failed to disclose the order passed by the High Court in Zaidi's case..Taking exception to the same, the Court said,"This apparently is a clear case where the Board is guilty of suppression of material facts. Such conduct on the part of the revisionist cannot be appreciated."However, the Court also looked into merits of the case. It found that the residential house and 17 shops were never treated as a waqf. "Now after noticing the background in detail, if the order dated 20.01.2015 passed by the Board is seen, it would indicate that it was clearly impermissible for the Board to have appointed a Mutawalli in respect of the Waqf in question when as way back as in 1952 it was held that it was not a valid Waqf and the said finding had attained finality once the first appeal preferred by the Board was decided on 07.05.1964," it added..Thus, the Court rejected the suit with costs of ₹15,000. .Advocate Saiyed Afzal Abbas Rizvi appeared for the revisionist.Advocates Ali Murtaza, Mohammad Tariq Saeed, Mohd Kashif Iqbal, Mohd Altaf Mansoor and Tanay Chaudhary appeared for opposite party no. 2, Huma Zaidi..[Read Judgment]
