In Brief
The Supreme Court upheld the High Court's decision confirming the respondents' customary right to the office of mutawalli (trustee) of the Andrott Jumah Mosque in Lakshadweep. The Court held that the respondents, descendants of Saint Ubaidulla who built the mosque around the seventh century, had established through historical materials and documentary evidence an ancient, continuous, and unbroken practice of hereditary succession to the office from which the founder's intention could be presumed. The Court rejected arguments that procedural breaks (a committee from 1966-72, a void compromise decree of 1981, and temporary third-party appointments in the 1920s) had abrogated the custom, finding that such singular gaps do not vitiate an otherwise established hereditary practice. The Court also rejected the contention that the custom violates public policy, as the mutawalli exercises no proprietary right and remains subject to the Waqf Board's supervisory powers. The appeals were dismissed.
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