In Brief
This case concerns two sales of waqf property: one in 1960 and another in 1974, both without the Board's sanction required by law. The beneficiary-purchasers claimed they had acquired title through 12 years of adverse possession. The Supreme Court held that such void (not merely voidable) transfers trigger the general limitation period under Article 65, not the special Article 96 for managers. Title was extinguished 12 years after each sale under Section 27 of the Limitation Act. A beneficiary (unlike a Mutawalli or trustee) is not barred by fiduciary duty from claiming adverse possession. However, because the title had already vested in the purchasers before the Waqf Act 1995 came into force, that Act's bar on limitation could not retrospectively revive the waqf's lost rights.
The lawyer headnote and full judgment text are available to registered users.