Kerala HC Judge Recuses From Hearing Plea By Waqf Protection Organization Against Inquiry Commission In Munambam Land Dispute

Kerala Waqf Samrakshana Vedhi, a registered society which works for protecting Waqf properties in the state, has approached the Kerala High Court challenging the state government's notification appointing a Commission of Inquiry into the Munambam land dispute case.

Justice C. S. Dias recused himself from hearing the plea today. 

Reportedly, the issue came into public attention recently after the residents of Munambam started protesting as they could not pay land tax, get mutation of properties from Kuzhupilly Village Office pursuant to a 2022 High Court order. The land has been identified and registered in Waqf registry in 2019. The residents claim that their predecessors have brought the property from Farook College. The main issue in the matter is whether Siddhique Sait who gifted the property to Farook College in 1950 intended it to be a Waqf property or not. An appeal is before the Waqf Tribunal Kozhikkode against enlisting the property as 'Waqf'. There residents of Munambam have filed a case before the High Court challenging the validity of the Waqf Act itself.

Meanwhile the state government by its November 27, 2024 notification appointed the Commission after opinion that the same was necessary for the purpose of making an inquiry into a definite matter of public importance, namely, to recommend measures to be taken by the Government "to find a permanent solution" with respect to the dispute of ownership between the residents of Munambam and the Waqf Board over certain properties. The notification asks the Commission to enquire and report how to protect the rights and interests of the bonafide occupants of the land. It has also asked the Commission to identify the nature and extent of the property comprised in Old Survey No. 18/1 of the then Vadakekkara village of erstwhile Travancore state. 

The petitioner organization, registered under the Travancore Cochin (Charitable, Scientific and Literary) Societies Act, has challenged this notification claiming that it is beyond the purview of State Government as the Waqf Act 1995 is a Central Act.

The plea states that Waqf is a subject which falls under item 97 of List 1 (Union list) in the Schedule VII of the Constitution of India and so only the Centre can make law with respect to this subject. It adds that Waqf is not mentioned as a subject in List 2 (State list) or List 3 (concurrent list).