ENACTMENT NO. 4 OF 1955 ADMINISTRATION OF MUSLIM LAW ENACTMENT 1955
PART IV - RELIGIOUS COURTS
Section 25. Extent of jurisdiction.
(1) 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 (1) of this paragraph,
(iii) maintenance of dependants, legitimacy, guardianship or custody of infants,
(iv) division of, or claims to, sapencharian property,
(v) determination of the persons entitled to share in the estate of a decease person who professed the Religion of Islam, or of the shares to which such persons are respectively entitled,
(vi) wills or death-bed gifts of a deceased person who professed the Religion of Islam,
(vii) gifts of 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 proceeding in respect of which any Court of a Kathi has jurisdiction.
(2) 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 authorized to hear and determine, in which the amount or value of the subject matter does not exceed one thousand dollars, or is not capable of estimation in terms of money
(3) No decision of the Court of the Chief Kathi or Kathi shall affect any right of property of any non-Muslim.
(4) Nothing in this Enactment contained 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.