Uttaranchal High Court: Sudhanshu Dhulia, J., contemplated a petition presented before him by the petitioner who was a member of Waqf Board and was subsequently disqualified, aggrieved by which he filed the instant petition.
The petitioner was disqualified in terms of Section 20 read with Section 16 of the Waqf Act, 1995. Section 16 talked about disqualification for being appointed or for continuing as a member of the Board if certain conditions are not followed also Section 20 talked about “removal of chairperson and member” when a person was subjected to disqualification under Section 16.
The case of the petitioner was that on the earlier occasion when he was a member of the Waqf Board for the term of five years (i.e. 22-06-2010 to 22-06-2015), but he was removed in 2012. The petitioner challenged the order before the Waqf Tribunal where his petition was allowed and the order by which he was removed as a member of the Waqf Board was set aside by the Waqf Tribunal.
The reason cited by the respondent was that on a previous occasion he was removed from his office as a member or as a Mutawalli. However, the order by which the petitioner was earlier removed as a member of the Waqf Board was set aside by the judicial order, and therefore, that order does not survive. It was contended that the order passed by the respondents was unreasonable and the petitioner was not given an opportunity of being heard.
Learned State counsel D.S. Patni and M.S. Rawat argued that the petitioner had an equally efficacious remedy to file an appeal before the Tribunal under Section 83 of the Waqf Act, 1995.
High Court observed that though the petitioner had a remedy under sub-section (2) of Section 83 of the Waqf Act, 1995 however, in this particular case the existence of an alternative remedy before the Tribunal not operated as a bar inasmuch as the present order had been passed without affording opportunity of hearing to the petitioner.
It was held that, “This is for the reason that in case the law provides a remedy at two stages i.e. one before the concerned authority and later before the appellate authority, both opportunities have to be fair and must comply with the norms of natural justice and fair play. It does not mean that the authority can pass an order in violation of principle of natural justice and fair play and the same shall stand cured if the appellate authority gives an opportunity of hearing to the petitioner. At both the stages, the petitioner was required to be given an opportunity of hearing in terms of principle of natural justice and fair play, which has not been given in the present case.”
Hence, the petition was allowed.[Haji Rao Sharafat Ali v. State of Uttarakhand, 2019 SCC OnLine Utt 893, decided on 23-08-2019]
