Wakf Act jurisdiction over pending civil suits remains with courts, not the Tribunal, for pre-commencement proceedings.

Section 85 of the Wakf Act, 1995 bars civil court proceedings only in matters required to be determined by the Tribunal, but Section 7(5) preserves suits, appeals, revisions and review proceedings already instituted before the Act commenced. Read together, these provisions make the Act prospective and prevent the Tribunal from unsettling pending matters begun before 1 January 1996. A suit filed long before commencement, together with the appeal arising from it, therefore remained outside the Tribunal's jurisdiction, and the matter had to continue in the High Court.

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Issues: Whether the jurisdiction of the Civil Court and the appellate proceedings arising from a suit instituted before the commencement of the Wakf Act, 1995 were taken away by the bar under Section 85, or whether Section 7(5) saved pending suits, appeals and revisions from the Tribunal's jurisdiction.

Analysis: Section 85 bars civil court proceedings in respect of matters required to be determined by the Tribunal, but Section 7(5) creates a specific exception for matters already instituted or commenced in a Civil Court before the commencement of the Act, including appeals, revisions and review arising out of such suits. Reading these provisions together, the Act was held to operate prospectively and not to unsettle pending matters that had commenced prior to 1.1.1996. Since the suit in question had been instituted long before the commencement of the Act and the appeal arose from that pending suit, the Tribunal had no jurisdiction to reopen or determine it.

Conclusion: The view that the matter had to be taken to the Wakf Tribunal was held to be incorrect, and the High Court's order was set aside with a direction that the appeal be decided by the High Court in accordance with law.

Ratio Decidendi: Section 85 of the Wakf Act, 1995 does not divest civil courts or appellate courts of jurisdiction over suits and connected proceedings instituted before the commencement of the Act, because Section 7(5) expressly excludes such pending matters from the Tribunal's jurisdiction.

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