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Hammad Ahmed v. Abdul Majeed & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2019 INSC 460Decided 3 Apr 2019
Civil Appeal Nos. 3382-3383 of 2019
Justice Uday Umesh Lalit · Justice Hemant Gupta

Background

This dispute is over who should act as Chief Mutawalli (chief trustee/administrator) of Hamdard Laboratories (India), the well-known Unani medicine trust, after the death of the previous undisputed Chief Mutawalli in 2015. The appellant, Hammad Ahmed, claimed he was entitled to the post as the senior-most male descendant in the line of succession under the Wakf Deed, while a rival relative, Abdul Majeed, had separately declared himself Chief Mutawalli and began issuing instructions to banks and authorities in that capacity. Both sides filed separate civil suits and sought interim injunctions; a Single Judge of the Delhi High Court had initially ruled in the appellant's favour (ordering handover of passwords and control), but a Division Bench of the High Court reversed that interim order, prompting this appeal to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court allowed the appeal, set aside the Division Bench's order, and restored the Single Judge's order granting interim relief in favour of the appellant, Hammad Ahmed. Examining the Wakf Deed's succession clauses, the Court found that the rule was not strict lineal primogeniture but representation among descendants of both sons of the original founder, and that pending (unconvicted) criminal cases against the appellant did not disqualify him under the Deed, which only bars someone actually convicted of an offence involving moral turpitude. The Court emphasized that this was only a decision on the interim/ad-interim injunction application and did not finally decide the underlying suits, which must still be decided on evidence at trial, and directed the trial courts to conclude evidence within three months to reach an early final decision.

Lesson Learnt

A family succession dispute governed by a trust deed is decided by the document's actual wording, not assumptions like "eldest always succeeds", and courts can grant a strong (even mandatory) interim injunction to preserve a party's position while a lawsuit is pending, without that interim order deciding the final outcome of the case.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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