Munambam Waqf land dispute: Kerala High Court allows State appeal, upholds formation of inquiry commission

The Kerala High Court on Friday set aside a single judge's order that had earlier quashed the State government's formation of an inquiry commission to examine the rights of around 600 families facing eviction after a property at Munambam was declared to be a waqf [State of Kerala v. Kerala Waqf Samrakshana Vedhi]

A Bench of Justices SA Dharmadhikari and Justice Syam Kumar VM allowed the appeal filed by the State government against the single judge verdict, which was delivered on March 17.

A different division bench had stayed the single judge's order in August, opining that the State appeared to be well within its power to issue the notification appointing the Commission headed by retired High Court judge, Justice CN Ramachandran Nair.

The dispute concerns land in Munambam, which originally measured 404.76 acres but has been reduced to around 135.11 acres due to sea erosion.

In 1950, the land was gifted to the Farook College by one Siddique Sait. However, the land was already home to several people, who continued occupying the land, leading to legal battles between the college and the long-time occupants.

Later, the college sold portions of the land to these occupants. These land sales failed to mention that the property was waqf land.

In 2019, the Kerala Waqf Board formally registered the land as waqf property, making the earlier sales void. This triggered opposition from residents who faced eviction.

An appeal challenging the State Waqf Board's decision to classify the Munambam land as a waqf was filed before a waqf tribunal in Kozhikode.

Meanwhile, in response to growing protests from around 600 families, the Kerala government appointed an inquiry commission in November 2024, led by retired Justice CN Ramachandran Nair to recommend solutions.

This came to be challenged before the High Court by members of the Waqf Samrakshana Samithi, who argued the government had no power to inquire into Waqf properties outside the statute.

On March 17, single-judge Bench of Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas quashed the order appointing the Commission, ruling that such a Commission lacked legal authority to intervene in matters already adjudicated or pending under the Waqf Act, 1995.

Challenging this order, the State filed the present appeal, arguing that the petitioners lacked locus standi and that the order was passed without a proper appreciation of law and facts.

The State government was represented by Advocate General (AG) and Senior Advocate K Gopalakrishna Kurup, Special Government Pleader (GP) Revenue MH Hanil Kumar, Senior GPs S Kannan and V Manu and Special GP to the AG, CE Unnikrishnan.

The State Waqf Board was represented by advocate Ja,sheed Hafiz.

The other respondents (Original Petitioners) were represented by advocates P Chandrasekhar, PK Ibrahim, KP Ambika, Zeenath PK, Jabeena KM, Anaz Bin Ibrahim, and Pradeep Kumar.

[Read Judgment]