ENACTMENT No. 9 Of 1962 ADMINISTRATION OF MUSLIM LAW ENACTMENT
PART III - RELIGIOUS COURTS Constitution and Jurisdiction
Section 41. Jurisdiction.
(1) The Court of the Kathi Besar shall have jurisdiction throughout the State and shall be presided over by the Kathi Besar.
(2) Subject to the provisions of this Enactment, a 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 Kathi Besar 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 Muslim Religion 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) wakaf or nazr; or
(v) 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.
(4) Except as otherwise provided in any written law, 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 two months or a fine of two 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 Kathi Besar is authorised to hear and determine, in which the amount in dispute or value of the subject matter does not exceed one thousand dollars, or is not capable of estimation in terms of money.
(5) No decision of the Court of the Kathi Besar or a Kathi shall affect any right of property of any non-Muslim.