'Qazi courts to lessen judiciary's burden'

LUCKNOW: "Qazi courts are not an attempt to create a parallel judicial system but to help our already overburdened courts," said Maulana Dr Kalbe Sadiq, vice-president of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board, here on Thursday.
"If the government provides statutory status to these court, as demanded by the Board, they could handle minor cases of property disputes, succession or family discord of the community with the consent of both the parties.This will not only lessen pressure on courts and but, will also save valuable time of the litigants," Dr Sadiq said.
Already such courts are working at Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulema here for the last ten years. Manned by four qazis, including head qazi, the courts handle 25 to 30 cases, mostly of marital discord, per year at a nominal fee of Rs 50 per case. Other cases that come up before the court are of succession and dispute over family property.
In cases of financial nature, government stamps and affidavits are required. Otherwise cases are solved with the mutual consent of the both the parties. The court sits on every Thursday. Maulana Burhan is the chief qazi and Qazi Mustaqeem Nadvi is his deputy. The other two are maulana Ateeq and Mufti Zahoor.
Like Nadwa such courts are also working at Imarat-e-Sharia in Patna. A Nadwa source said that in Madhya Pradesh almost every city has Qazi court and a fewcities in Maharashtra also.
Board president Maulana Rabe Hasan Nadvi, who termed these courts as panchayats, has admitted that the Board is facing shortage of qualified qazis for these courts. "Nadwa as well as Imarat-e-Sharia are training qazis for the job," he said.