Lucknow: The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has held that Sunni Central Waqf Board cannot, in exercise of its general powers, direct a district magistrate to enter, delete or alter a person’s name in the revenue records relating to a Waqf property.A division bench of Justices Alok Mathur and Amitabh Kumar Rai made the observation while dismissing a petition filed by Shams Tabrez. The court held that mutation of revenue records should be carried out strictly in accordance with the procedure prescribed under the Uttar Pradesh Revenue Code.The petitioner had claimed that Sunni Central Waqf Board, Lucknow, had on Jan 13, 2025, removed the name of Qasim Nadeem from Waqf No. 1339 in Pratapgarh and appointed him as secretary of the managing committee. He sought directions to the DM to give effect to the board’s order by making corresponding changes in the revenue records of the Waqf property.The petitioner argued that under Section 28 of the Waqf Act, the board was empowered to issue directions to the district magistrate.The state govt, however, opposed the plea, contending that mutation of revenue records was governed by a specific procedure under Section 34 of the Uttar Pradesh Revenue Code.The bench held that where a special law prescribes a specific procedure, general powers could not be invoked to bypass it. It noted that under Section 41 of the Waqf Act, the board could make changes in the Waqf register. However, mutation in revenue records fell within the jurisdiction of the tehsildar concerned.The court observed that under Section 34 of the Revenue Code, the tehsildar was required to consider claims and objections before passing an order on mutation. The provision did not confer such power on the district magistrate, the bench added.The court, however, gave the petitioner liberty to approach the competent authority under Section 34 of the Revenue Code for mutation of the revenue records.
