P. NAZEER ETC. versus SALAFI TRUST & ANR. ETC.

Citation: [2022] 14 S.C.R. 1070 · Decided: 30-03-2022 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: HEMANT GUPTA · Disposal: Dismissed
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Judgment (excerpt)

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SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[2022] 14 S.C.R.
P. NAZEER ETC.
v.
SALAFI TRUST & ANR. ETC.
(Civil Appeal Nos. 3132-3133 of 2016)
MARCH 30, 2022
[HEMANT GUPTA AND V. RAMASUBRAMANIAN, JJ.]
Societies Registration Act, 1860: s. 6 - Suits by and against
societies – Entitlement of a Society to sue and be sued – Held: Society
registered under the Societies Registration Act is entitled to sue and
be sued, only in terms of its bye-laws – The bye-laws may authorise
the President or Secretary or any other office bearer to institute or
defend a suit for and on behalf of the society terms of its bye-laws
– Under s. 6, every society registered under the Act may sue or be
sued in the name of President, Chairman, or Principal Secretary, or
trustees, as shall be determined by the rules and regulations of the
society and, in default of such determination, in the name of such
person as shall be appointed by the governing body for the occasion
– Thus, unless the plaintiff in a suit which claims to be a society,
demonstrates that it is a registered entity and that the person who
signed and verified the pleadings was authorised by the bye-laws
to do so, the suit cannot be entertained – Fact that the plaintiff in a
suit happens to be a local unit or Sakha unit of a registered society
is of no consequence, unless the bye-laws support the institution of
such a suit – On facts, the finding that the tribunal held that plaintiff
No.1 is a legal entity, entitled to sue and be sued was solely on the
ground that plaintiff No.1 was one of the Sakha units affiliated to a
registered society, is contrary to law – Waqf tribunal committed
illegality, first in not framing an issue about the status of the Mahal
Committee-appellant no.1 and then in recording a finding as though
the local unit of a registered society which is in enjoyment of affiliated
status, was entitled to sue – Such an illegality committed by the
tribunal was liable to be corrected by the High Court under its
revisional jurisdiction – Moreover, the document is a certificate of
registration issued u/s. 36 of the Waqf Act, 1995 – Once it is admitted
that it was the first respondent namely the Salafi Trust who got the
mosque registered as a waqf u/s. 36 of the Act and once it is admitted
by the appellants in their plaint that the mosque was constructed in
[2022] 14 S.C.R. 1070
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a vacant plot demised by Salafi Trust, it was not open to them to go
against the statutory prescriptions and claim to be the Mutawalli –
Travancore-Cochin Literary, Scientific and Charitable Societies
Registration Act, 1955 – Waqf Act, 1995 - ss.36, 83(9) proviso.
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited v. Dilbahar
Singh (2014) 9 SCC 78 : [2014] 14 SCR 1379 –
referred to. 
Case Law Reference
[2014] 14 SCR 1379 
referred to
Para 11
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal Nos. 3132-
3133 of 2016.
From the Judgment and Order dated 15.01.2013 of the High Court
of Kerala at Ernakulam in C.R.P. Nos. 338 and 339 of 2006.
R. Basant, Sr. Adv., E. M. S. Anam, Advs. for the Appellants.
V. Giri, Sr. Adv., Nishe Rajen Shonker, Abraham C. Mathew, Ms.
Ankita Gupta, Advs. for the Respondents.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
V. RAMASUBRAMANIAN, J.
1. Aggrieved by a common Judgment delivered by the High Court
of Kerala in two Civil Revision Petitions filed under the proviso to sub-
section (9) of Section 83 of the Waqf Act, 1995, reversing the judgment
of the Waqf Tribunal and decreeing the suit of the respondents in entirety,
but dismissing their own suit, the appellants have come up with the above
civil appeals.
2. We have heard Shri R. Basant, learned senior counsel appearing
for the appellants and Shri V. Giri, learned senior counsel appearing for
the private contesting respondents.
3. The sole appellant in one of the above appeals by name  Shri
P. Nazeer was the defendant in a suit O.S No.10 of 2004 filed by the
respondents 1 and 2 herein, on the file of Waqf Tribunal, Kollam. The
three appellants in the other civil appeal were the plaintiffs in O.S No.9
of 2004 filed on the file of very same Waqf Tribunal, Kollam. Since the
appeals on hand arose out of cross-suits between the same parties and
also since the subject matter of the dispute relates to the right to
P. NAZEER ETC. v. SALAFI TRUST & ANR. ETC.
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management and administration of a mosque and its properties, it will be
easy to appreciate the facts, if presented in
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