Mosque Managing Committee Can Grant Lease Of Waqf Property For Less Than One Year: Andhra Pradesh High Court

The Andhra Pradesh High Court has held that a Mosque Managing Committee can be considered a 'Mutavalli' and is entitled to grant lease of any Waqf Property for a period of less than one year.

“Rule 4 of the Wakf Lease Rules, stipulate that even a Muthavalli is entitled to grant leases of less than one year. Section 3(i) of the Wakf Act defines Muthavalli to include any Person, Committee, or Corporation for the time being Managing or administrating any Wakf property. As the Managing Committee of the 4^th respondent has been appointed by the Wakf Board for such purpose, the said Managing Committee would be deemed to be the Muthavalli of the 4th respondent and would be entitled to grant leases below one year.”

The Division Bench of Chief Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur and Justice R. Raghunandan Rao also clarified that an authorization given by the Administrator of the Waqf Board is to be considered a sanction.

“This authorization is, in principle, a sanction to the managing Committee to give a lease of less than one year to the successful auction bidder. It would only be hairsplitting to contend that the authorization cannot be equated to sanction. The grant of authorization is itself a recognition by the Administrator of the Wakf Board that the Managing Committee intends to lease out the agricultural lands of the 4^^ respondent-Masjid for a period of 11 months and grant of authorization would have to be treated as previous permission given to the managing Committee to grant a lease of the property for 11 months.”

The order was passed in a writ appeal filed by the aggrieved leaseholders of the Waqf property surrounding the Mohiddinia Masjid, Damaramadugu Village. It was contended that since time- immemorial, the appellants had been the leaseholders of the land, cultivating the same and paying rents regularly.

In 2023, the Managing Board of the Masjid decided to auction the leasehold rights of the land surrounding the Masjid. The appellants challenged this by way of a Writ and argued that as per sections 32 and 56 of the Wakf Act only the Wakf Board is authorized to lease out Wakf land; the Act does not provide for any delegation of said power.

Furthermore, it was contended that the Waqf Board had been dissolved and the Court had appointed an Administrator to manage the Waqf affair and could not be construed as the Board itself.

The Writ was dismissed, giving rise to the present appeal.

The Division Bench after referring to the provisions of the Act noted that since the lease was for a period of only 11 months, no prior sanction from the Board would be required under section 56 of the Act.

Turning its attention to Rule 4 of the Waqf Lease Rules, the bench then noted that a Mutavalli is entitled to lease out Waqf property, and as per section 3 of the Waqf Act a Mutavalli is any 'person of committee managing Waqf Property.'

Thus, it concluded that the Managing Committee of a Mosque can be deemed its Mutavalli and is entitled to lease Mosque land for a period of less than 11 months without any prior sanction.

“The lease in question is for a period of less than one 13. year. In such circumstances, the requirement of previous sanction from the Wakf Board under Section 56 does not arise.”

Thus the appeal was dismissed.

Case no.: WRIT APPEAL NO: 298 OF 2024

Counsel for the Appellant(s): O. Manohar Reddy, Sr. Counsel rep on behalf of C Subodh

Counsel for respondents: GP For Social Welfare, MD. Gayasuddin, Sc For Waqf Board, Shaik Rafi, S.M. Subhani, G Suryam

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