MUHAMMAD MAHAMOOD HUSSAIN FAROKI ALIAS CHAN BASHA Vs. SYED ABDUL HUQ ALIAS SABJU SAHEB, MINOR BY GUARDIAN SYED MIAH SAHEB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The plaintiff is the appellant. He sues for a declaration that he is entitled to succeed to the office and profits of the position of Khatib in the Jumma Masjid Nellore Mosque. As I am generally in agreement with a great deal of the judgment of the lower Court, it will be possible to deal with this appeal briefly.

(2.) Ex. A is a certified extract from the Inam Register of Nellore Village and is dated the 19th December, 1860. The inam was registered as being for performing the services of reading prayers in the Jumma Mosque and it is stated that the services had been performed. In column 10, it is shown that the tenure is hereditary and to be so long as the service is performed . It was grunted by the Nabob in 1799 and the original grantee was Abdul Huq. There is printed in the record the pedigree of the line of Khatibs which was filed by the tenth defendant who is the respondent in this appeal. All the persons who are of importance are shown. The position at the time of the suit was that Khader Muhi-ud-din the Khatib had died in 1931 and he had been succeeded by his elder sister Sakina Bi. At that time apart from Sakina Bi, there was alive the plaintiff; the son of a deceased sister of Khader Muhi-ud-din. Another sister Bimajan is alive with her children, three sons, of whom the tenth defendant in this suit Abdul Huq is the youngest. The plaintiff Chan Basha challenges the right of Sakina Bi to succeed her brother Khader Muhi-ud-din stating that the Khatibship should go to him by descent.

(3.) Before the written statement was filed Sakina Bi died. But Abdul Huq the tenth defendant pleads that Sakina Bi rightly inherited and that he is entitled to be the Khatib having been nominated by Sakina Bi to that position. At the time of argument it was generally accepted that the office of Khatib is accurately described in paragraph 4 of the tenth defendant's written statement namely that it is an office held by a person who is to lead the congregations and preach in the Jumma Mosque on every Friday and on Ramzan and Bakr-id days. The particular form of worship is known as the Jumma Namaz.