- (1.) We have heard learned counsel for the parties.
(2.) The present appellant Tamil Nadu Wakf Board alongwith Aminjikarai Mosque and Burial Ground represented by its Secretary (hereinafter referred to as 'plaintiffs') filed a suit for a declaration that the suit property was a Wakf property and for directing S.A. Rasool, since deceased and now represented by his legal representatives, who are respondent Nos. 2, 4, 5(i) to (iii), 6, 8 and 9, referred to as the legal representatives of the original defendant, to hand over vacant possession of the suit property to the plaintiffs.
(3.) The case of the plaintiffs was that the suit property (land and superstructure) was a Wakf property known as Aminjikarai Mosque and burial ground. The suit property had been surveyed and published in the Fort St. George Gazette on May 20, 1959 and the said notification had not been questioned by any one. The suit property was leased out to the father of the original defendant by the then Muthavalli in 1921. Earlier the original defendant paid rent to then Muthavalli but thereafter no rent had been paid and he asserted his title over the property.;