Mohiuddin Ahmed Vaid vs State of Maharashtra through Its Principal Secretary Minority Development Department

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901-WP-1731-2025.doc

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Digitally signed by SHAGUFTA SHAGUFTA QUTBUDDIN QUTBUDDIN PATHAN PATHAN Date: 2025.08.07 10:41:17 +0530

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY ORDINARY ORIGINAL CIVIL JURISDICTION

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WRIT PETITION NO.1731 OF 2025

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Mohiuddin Ahmed Vaid … Petitioner

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Versus

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The State of Maharashtra, Through Its Principal Secretary Minority Development Department … Respondents

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Ms. Sana Y. Baugwala a/w Ms. Vidhya N. Shet, Mr. Daanish M. Vaid, Mr. Mohiyuddin Y. Baugwala and Mr. Yusuf S. Baugwala i/by Vaid and Associates, for the Petitioner

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Mr. Rajiv Chavan, Sr. Advocate a/w Ms. Jaymala Ostwal, Mr. Ishwar, Ms. Asmi Desai, Ms. Sonam Pandey, Ms Rashmi Tiwari and Ms. Nikita Lad, for the Respondent No.1

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Ms. Rebecca Gonsalvez, for the Respondent No. 2

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Ms. Leena Patil, for the Respondent Nos. 3 and 4

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Mr. Ruches Jaivanshi, Secretary, Minorities Development Department – is present through VC

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Mr. Mirza K. Baig, Asst. Superintendent, Maharashtra State Waqf Tribunal, is present in court

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CORAM : REVATI MOHITE DERE & DR. NEELA GOKHALE, JJ. WEDNESDAY, 6th AUGUST 2025

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P.C :

1 Pursuant to our order dated 5^th August 2025, Mr. Chavan, learned senior counsel appearing for respondent No.1, has taken instructions and submitted a chart detailing the current status of the various requirements sought to be provided for the Maharashtra State Waqf Tribunal, as on 6^th August 2025. Mr. Chavan, learned senior counsel has tendered the said Chart. The same is reproduced hereinbelow for convenience:

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Sr. No.	Requirements	Status/Comments of the Department
A)	Web Portal
1.	Creation of an independent, fully functional website/portal for the Waqf Tribunal with facilities for uploading the cause lists, link/s for video- conferencing and live-	Website for the tribu developed by the NIC will launched within 2 weeks, o DIT allots and confirms domain URL www.waqftribunal.maharash gov.in	nal be nce the i.e. tra.
	streaming, case status, daily orders, judgments, notices, calendar, etc.	Letter for registration domain for Waqf tribunal issued on 5.08.2025 Following services will available from the date launch of website :-	of is be of

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Sr. No.	Requirements	Status/Comments of the Department
		Case status Judgments/orders passed by the tribunal VC link uploading Notices Roznama
2.	Complete facilities for video conferencing and live-streaming to be ensured.	Hardware required for video conferencing are made available. Any hardware required for the same will be made available within 1 month from day of demand made bythe tribunal.
3.	Adequate security for the website, video- conferencing and live- streaming	Website which is to be launched is developed by the NIC. Government websites are launched after due scrutiny and NOC of the Department of IT. Security audit of the website has been done.
B)	Staff
	Creation of the post of, and appointment of a	The department has studied staffing pattern of Maharashtra
4.	qualified System Officer/Administrator for the Waqf Tribunal on urgent basis.	Administrative Tribunal (MAT) and it is observed that there may not be a need to create
5.	Until such time as the aforesaid appointmentis	new post for system officer/ administrator urgently.

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Sr. Status/Comments of the
Requirements
No. Department
made, as suggested by the  Training has been given to
Minority Development Clerical staff for the same and it
Department, a System
is being done by the staff.
Officer could be
 MAT has multiple VC rooms.
appointed by the Waqf
Waqf tribunal has single VC
Tribunal on contract basis.
unit.
The System Officer will
need to be paid a salary  Therefore, there is no
on par with System requirement of creation of
Officers appointed for the
separate post for just creating
District Courts, i.e. Rs.
link and accepting VC request.
40,000/- per month. The
 There are 8 clerical staff
salary and the cost of
approved for waqf tribunal.
advertisements for making
Clerk can be trained for the
this contractual
appointment would need same or Tribunal can appoint a
to be borne by the clerical staff on contractual
Minority Development basis for the same. It can be
Department. However, it
done under Rs 25000/- per
must be noted that the
month.
Bombay High Court had
 Government will bear cost for
by the Order dated
6/2/2024 passed in PIL the same.
No.15/2021, directed the
State not to appoint any
staff in the Waqf Tribunal
on contractual basis, and
to follow the Civil
Manual for recruitments
(Para 8 of the order).
C) Case Information System (CIS)
6. Case Information System  Work order for development
(CIS) of the Tribunal to be of website was allotted to

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Sr.	Reuirements	Status/Comments of the
No.	q	Department
	completed immediately, since it was not developed over the last 3 years by M/s Silver Touch Technologies Ltd.	NICSI on 28.02.2022. NICSI selected M/s Silver Touch Technologies Ltd. for the same. The website as per original work order is readyto launch.
7.	CIS has to be compatible with the system developed by the Bombay High Court for ensuring seamless connectivity between the High Court and the Tribunal.	There are some modifications in website are suggested by the Chairman, Waqf tribunal. The Department is in touch with NIC team for making such changes. As these recommendations are out of the scope of original work order and required expenses of about Rs 30 lakhs NIC has been directed to publish tender for the same. Required time frame to complete the work after work order-(Total 9 weeks) Development of website work (6 weeks) Testing (2 week) Approval and launch(1 week)
D	) Hardware
8.	Two (2) scanner machines, two (2) photocopier machines with multifunction systems, 32 inch TVforthe benchto	2 TV’s of 65 inches are already installed in the Tribunal. Government has not received proposal for the purchase of

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Sr. No.	Requirements	Status/Comments of the Department
	avail of the video- conferencing facility.	scanner machines and separate TV unit.
		3 Samsung tablets for the members to access online filed applications already provided.
		Six Microphones already provided.
		Two 360 degree cameras for
		the verification of the
		Witnesses and
		However, the State
		Government will give
		administrative approval for purchase of these items within 1 month of receiving complete proposal. The tribunal should purchase items as per norms. Funds will be made available.
	Server to store data.	Online server to store all data is already in place MahaIT. The same was made available vide a Work
		order for the same which was
9.		issued on 14.10.2024. this was done to support the Website which is already created and ready to be launched hence the server facility
		was availed before even the website was created
10.	Online UPS 5kVA for the	The State Government will give

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Sr. No.	Requirements	Status/Comments of the Department
	court hall, with batteries to support the video conferencing facility.	administrative approval for purchase of these items within 2- 3 weeks days of receiving complete proposal. Funds will be made available.
11.	High speed internet, with a minimum speed of 50 MBPS	Currently there is 300 MBPS WIFI is setup, which is provided by BSNL. For any upgradation in the internet speed/change in internet plan a request to the internet service provider can be made by the Tribunal.
12.	Any other facilities required to fully facilitate video- conferencing, live- streaming, functioning of the website, and the CIS.	As mentioned above, approval to purchase all hardware will be given within 1 month from the date of complete proposal sent by tribunal. Funds will be made available. Website will be launched within 2 Weeks. Further Development and any upgradation/ improvement is a ongoing process which can be done from time to time. Integration of cloud, e-courts and Tribunal’s website will be made within 8-9 weeks once CIS is
		set up by NIC/NICSI Tier-1A empaneled agencytakes steps.

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2 From the aforesaid Chart, it appears that the State

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Government is taking steps to ensure compliance with the requirements of the Maharashtra State Waqf Tribunal. Timelines have also been indicated therein for each item.

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3 Mr. Ruches Jaivanshi, Secretary, Minorities

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Development Department, has appeared before us through videoconferencing and has assured the Court that the timelines indicated in the Chart shall be adhered to.

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4 At this stage, Ms. Rebecca Gonsalvez, learned counsel appearing for the Waqf Tribunal, submits that the Tribunal will communicate its remaining requirements to the State Government on or before Monday, i.e., 11^th August 2025, so as to enable the State Government to take appropriate action and comply within the stipulated timelines. She further assures the Court that VC facilities will continue to be made available until the website of the Tribunal is created, and that there will be no impediment to

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the advocates and parties appearing before the Tribunal via video-

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conferencing. Statement accepted.

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5 Stand over to 3^rd September 2025. To be listed under