ENACTMENT NO. 5 OF 1956 ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAW OF THE RELIGION OF ISLAM ENACTMENT 1956
PART III - RELIGIOUS COURTS JURISDICTION
Section 37. Local limits and extent of jurisdiction.
(1) The Court of the Chief Kathi shall have jurisdiction throughout the State and shall be presided over by the Chief Kathi .
(2) Subject as otherwise provided in this Enactment, the Court of a Kathi shall have jurisdiction in respect of any civil or criminal matter of the nature hereinafter specified arising within the local limits of jurisdiction prescribed for it under the preceding section, or, if no local limits are so prescribed, within the State, and shall be presided over by the Kathi appointed thereto.
(3) The Court of the Chief Kathi shall-
(a) in its criminal jurisdiction, try any offence committed by a Muslim and punishable under this Enactment, and may impose any punishment therefor provided;
(b) in its civil jurisdiction, hear and determine all actions and proceedings in which all the parties profess the Religion of Islam and which relate to-
(i) betrothal, marriage, divorce, nullity of marriage, or judicial separation;
(ii) any disposition of, or claim to, property arising out of any of the matters set out in sub-paragraph (i) of this paragraph;
(iii) maintenance of dependants, legitimacy, guardianship or custody of infants;
(iv) division of, or claims to, sa-pencharian property;
(v) determination of the persons entitled to share in the estate of a deceased person who professed the Religion of Islam, or of the shares to which such persons are respectively entitled;
(vi) wilIs or death-bed gifts of a deceased person who professed the Religion of Islam;
(vii) gifts inter vivos, or settlements made without consideration in money or money's worth, by a person professing the Religion of Islam;
(viii) wakaf or nazr; or
(ix) other matters in respect of which jurisdiction is conferred by any written law:
Provided that it shall not ordinarily try any offence or hear or determine any action or proceedings in respect of which any Court of a Kathi has jurisdiction.
(4) The Court of a Kathi shall-
(a) in its criminal jurisdiction, try any offence committed by a Muslim and punishable under this Enactment for which the maximum punishment provided by law does not exceed imprisonment for one month or a fine of one hundred dollars or both, and may impose any punishment therefor provided;
(b) in its civil jurisdiction, hear and determine all such actions and proceedings as the Court of the Chief Kathi is authorised to hear and , determine, in which the amount or value of the subject-matter does not exceed five hundred dollars, or is not capable of estimation in terms of money, including petition for divorce.
(5) No decision of the Court of the Chief Kathi or a Kathi shall affect any right of property of any nonMuslim.
(6) Nothing contained in this Enactment shall affect the jurisdiction of any Civil Court and, in the event of, any difference or conflict arising between the decision of a Court of the Chief Kathi or a Kathi and the decIsion of a Civil Court acting within its jurisdiction, the decision of the Civil Court shall prevail.