Munambam Commission on Waqf dispute only a fact finding body: State to Kerala High Court

The inquiry commission formed to examine issues surrounding the ongoing Munambam land dispute between long-time occupants and the waqf board is only a fact finding body that does not hold any judicial or quasi judicial powers, the Kerala government has submitted before the Kerala High Court [Kerala Waqf Samrakshana Vedhi & anr v State of Kerala & ors]..The submission was made in response to a petition filed by a registered society named the Kerala Waqf Samrakshana Vedhi, challenging the formation of the inquiry commission.When the case was heard on January 24, Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas had questioned the commission of inquiry's authority to re-examine land rights in Munambam, when courts had already declared 114 acres of the disputed land as waqf property. .In response, the State has assured that the commission's role is limited to gathering factual information and does not extend to adjudicating on disputes.The commission's role is not to adjudicate on property titles but to assist the government in determining appropriate measures for the public good, the State submitted.The government added that the commission's powers are confined to examining the limited issue of how to protect the rights of legitimate occupants. Further the commission has no power to enforce any measures. It can only make recommendations to the State, the Kerala government's counter affidavit said. "(The) Commission has been required to enquire and make a report on specific Terms of Reference. The same is neither a judicial nor quasi judicial enquiry ... the Commission has no power of adjudication of any questions of title or dispute and is a mechanism to assimilate necessary information to apprise the mind of the Government. The Commission has no power to enforce its recommendations, either," the State said. It has also asserted that the State was well within the constitutional limits of its authority to form the commission. The matter will be heard by the High Court next on February 3. .The dispute before the Court concerns land in Ernakulam district's Munambam, which at one point measured 404.76 acres but has been reduced to about 135.11 acres over time due to sea erosion. This land, initially part of Vadakkekara Village, was gifted to the Farook College Managing Committee in 1950 by one Siddique Sait. Several legal battles ensued between residents, who had been occupying the land for years but had no documents to prove them, and the college which sought to evict them. .Eventually, the college agreed to sell the property to these residents at market value. The sale documents reportedly failed to mention that the land was waqf land.In 2019, the Kerala State Waqf Board registered the Munambam land as waqf property (an endowment for charitable, religious or educational purposes) and declared the earlier sales of land to be void. By 2022, the families residing in the area were unable to pay property taxes although they were later able resume these tax payments after court intervention. .In 2024, protests by residents - around 600 families who had purchased land from Farook College and who were at risk of eviction - reached a peak. This led the State to appoint a commission led by former Kerala High Court judge, Justice CN Ramachandran Nair in November, to recommend solutions for resolving public unrest. This move has been challenged before the High Court by the Kerala Waqf Samrakshana Vedhi (translation: Kerala Waqf Protection Body)..Meanwhile, appeals challenging the registration of the Munambham land as waqf property remain pending before the Waqf Tribunal in Kozhikode.Another case filed by the residents questioning the validity of the Waqf Act, 1995 is also pending before the Kerala High Court.