Indira Jain JUDGMENT
Indira Jain, J.
1. RULE. Rule is made returnable forthwith. Heard finally with the consent of learned counsel for the parties.
2. By the present writ petition petitioner who was a member of Waqf Board seeks direction to quash and set aside the impugned notification issued by respondent No. 1 on 26/07/2016 declaring that petitioner has deemed to have vacated the office of the member of the Board w.e.f. 1st December, 2015 as he ceases to be the member of Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa from 1st December, 2015.
The facts giving rise to the petition may be stated in brief as under :
3. The petitioner was Chairman of the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa. He ceased to be the member of Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa as tenure of the body came to an end w.e.f. 1st December, 2015. As a member of Bar Council, petitioner was appointed as member of Maharashtra State Board of Waqfs, Aurangabad from the category of Muslim members of the Bar Council of the State vide Government Notification dated 17/04/2012.
4. On 29/02/2016 one Mohd. Firdoz Ahmed preferred writ petition No. 1801 of 2016 seeking declaration that tenure of the petitioner as member of Waqf Board was co-terminus with his tenure of the Member of Bar Council of Maharashtra and therefore, he ceased to be the member of Waqf Board as tenure of Bar Council of the State came to an end. In the said petition direction was also sought against the petitioner that he had to vacate the office of the Board as he had ceased to be the member of the Bar Council. Writ Petition No. 1801 of 2016 came to be withdrawn on 20/06/2016 as the proposal for removal of the petitioner was under consideration before the State Government.
5. On 26/07/2016 respondent No. 1 issued a notification notifying that in view of the provisions of sub-clause (iii) of clause (b) of sub-section (1) of Section 14 of the Waqf Act, 1995 petitioner was not eligible to continue as member of the Board as he ceased to be the member of Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa and declared that petitioner has deemed to have vacated the office of member of the Board of Waqf on 01/12/2015. This notification was served on petitioner vide letter dated 27/07/2016.
6. According to petitioner, he was very much interested in contesting the elections for the post of Chairperson of the Board. The elections were scheduled to be held on 3rd August, 2016. A grievance is made that respondents deliberately issued election programme one day before issuing notification dated 26/07/2016 removing him from the Board. It is submitted that entire exercise was at the behest of interested persons just to prevent the petitioner from contesting elections. A contention is raised that explanation II to Section 14(1) of the Waqf Act, 1995 states that in case Muslim member ceases to be a Member of Parliament or Member of State Legislative Assembly, such member shall be deemed to have vacated the office of the member of the Board from the date he/she ceases to be the Member of Parliament or Member of State Legislative Assembly. Petitioner submits that Explanation-II to Section 14 is not applicable to the member on the Waqf Board from Muslim member of Bar Council of the State. In support thereof, a decision in Writ Petition No. 8107 of 2014 by Aurangabad Bench is placed into service. It is submitted that Explanation-II to Section 14 restricts the tenure of member of the Board in respect of a particular category of Members i.e. Member of Parliament and Member of State Legislature. It does not put any restriction in case........