Durgah Committee, Ajmer v. Syed Hussain Ali

Facts

• A dispute arose regarding the management and administration of the Durgah Khwaja Saheb at Ajmer
• Syed Hussain Ali claimed hereditary rights to certain offices based on long-standing custom in the Muslim community
• The Durgah Committee, constituted under the Durgah Khwaja Saheb Act 1955, contested these customary claims
• The question was whether pre-existing custom could override the statutory framework enacted by Parliament

Issues

1. Whether custom operating within personal law has independent legal force?
2. Whether customary rights yield to express statutory provisions enacted by the legislature?

Held

• The Supreme Court recognised that custom has the force of law in personal law matters and can create enforceable rights. However, the court held that when Parliament or a legislature enacts an express statutory provision governing the same subject matter, custom must give way to the statute. The legislative will, being a superior source of law, prevails over customary practice. The court found that the 1955 Act expressly regulated the matter, displacing any inconsistent custom.

Ratio Decidendi

Custom has the force of law and creates binding obligations in personal law matters, but it occupies a subordinate position in the hierarchy of sources and must yield to an express statutory provision: legislation, being the direct expression of sovereign will, prevails over custom when the two are in conflict.