Commissioner Of Wealth-Tax vs Begum Hashmatbi on 11 November, 1968
To find out as to what the executants intended or what is the legal effect of the document, it must be read as a whole. The clauses in the document stating that the executants will act as trustees during their lifetime, absence of any provision preserving the interest of the executants in the corpus of the properties, clear provision to the effect that the two buildings will on no account be transferred and reference to Section 192 of Mulla's Mohamedan Law, which speaks of a waqf with reservation of life interest in the dedicated properties, are strong indications that the executants intended that the corpus of the properties as distinct from its income be then and there dedicated for charitable purposes. Clauses (1) and (5) of the document, which contain words prima facie showing that the wakf was to come into effect after the death of the executants, have to be read harmoniously with other clauses in the document and when so read they must be understood as conveying that the income of the properties was to be utilised for charitable purposes after the demise of the executants and not that the dedication of the corpus itself was to remain postponed during the lifetime of the executants. A formal dedication or use of the word "wakf" or an express transfer of the corpus of the properties to God is not necessary for constituting a wakf ; the dedication of the properties to purposes recognised by Mahomedan law as religious or charitable may be inferred and that in itself will give rise to a wakf : [Jewun Doss Sahoo v. Shah Kubeer-ood-Deen, [1840] 2 M.I.A. 390 (P.C.); Khawaja Muhammad Hamid v. Mian Mahmud, [1923] L,R. 50 I.A. 92, 104 ; A.I.R. 1922 P.C. 384. and Mohammad Sabir Ali v. Tahir Ali, A.I.R. 1957 All. 94].