The Waqf Protection Forum argues that the High Court cannot interfere in the Munambam land issue while it is still under consideration by the Waqf Tribunal.
File Photo: IANS
The Kerala Waqf Protection Forum has filed an appeal in the Supreme Court challenging the Kerala High Court order that declared the disputed Munambam land as not waqf property.
The Forum has approached the apex court against the High Court’s ruling that the 1950 endowment deed executed by Mohammed Siddique Sait in favour of the Farooq College Managing Committee was not a waqf deed but a simple gift deed.
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The Waqf Protection Forum argues that the High Court cannot interfere in the Munambam land issue while it is still under consideration by the Waqf Tribunal.
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On October 10, the Kerala High Court held that the 1950 endowment deed executed by Mohammed Siddique Sait in favour of the Farooq College Managing Committee did not constitute a waqf deed but was merely a gift deed.
A Division Bench comprising Justices S.A. Dharmadhikari and Syam Kumar V.M. observed that the 1950 deed did not fulfil the essential requirement of “permanent dedication” under the Waqf Act of 1923, the Waqf Act of 1954, or the Central Waqf Act of 1995.
The ruling came while allowing two writ appeals filed by the state government against a Single Bench order that had quashed a government notification constituting a Commission of Inquiry to resolve the Munambam land dispute between residents and the Waqf Board.
“The endowment deed of 1950 never intended to create any ‘permanent dedication in favour of the Almighty God’, but was simpliciter a gift deed in favour of R5 Farooq Management and therefore could never have qualified as a ‘waqf deed’ under any of the enactments of the Waqf Act, 1954, 1984, or 1995,” the court said.
The court further observed that the Kerala Waqf Board’s (KWB) 2019 decision to declare the disputed property in Munambam as waqf was bad in law. However, it did not go to the extent of quashing the KWB’s orders, noting that it was concerned only with the state’s appeal against the quashing of its decision to set up an Inquiry Commission.
Earlier, on March 17, a Single Bench of the Kerala High Court had set aside a state government order appointing an enquiry commission to find a permanent solution to the dispute between Munambam residents and the Waqf Board.
Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas allowed the petition challenging the appointment of the enquiry commission, observing that the order appointing the commission had been issued without application of mind and failed the test of law.
“As the relevant facts that ought to have been borne in mind while appointing a commission of enquiry were not considered by the government, Exhibit P1 order appointing a commission of enquiry was issued without any application of mind and fails the test of law. Hence, Exhibit P1 order is quashed,” the court said. The court added that the matter is still pending before the Waqf Tribunal.
Around 610 families in Munambam, a coastal village in Ernakulam district, have been protesting against the Waqf Board’s claim over their land.
The Munambam issue began in 2019 when the Waqf Board staked claim over the land, asserting that it was waqf property donated to Farooq College in Kozhikode.
In 2022, residents were informed that they could no longer pay land tax on their property. Following this, the Kerala government intervened and allowed them to pay tax. However, the Kerala High Court stayed the government order permitting the families to pay land tax, after a petition was filed by the Waqf Samrakshana Samithy (Waqf Protection Forum).
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