In Brief
The Supreme Court quashed an errata notification that sought to include 1654 acres of Manikonda village land in Hyderabad as wakf property of Dargah Hazrat Hussain Shah Wali. The Court held that the notification was issued without conducting a mandatory inquiry under the Wakf Act, 1995, and violated natural justice principles by not hearing the State Government. The Manikonda village was a jagir (feudal grant) that stood abolished under the Abolition of Jagirs Regulation, 1358 Fasli, vesting it in the State. The conditional service grant (Mashrut-ul-Khidmat) to the Dargah was ancillary to the jagir and was also abolished. The Court found the Errata notification was a fresh notification improperly enlarged by including vast land rather than a correction of clerical errors. The writ jurisdiction of the High Court was correctly invoked as the State could challenge the notification despite alternative remedies being available, given breaches of natural justice.
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