The judgment of a Division Bench of the High Court, which discovered the actions of the Kerala Waqf Board relating to the Munambam land to be dangerous in legislation, stopped wanting placing them down. The order has put the ball again within the courtroom of the Waqf Tribunal, which is already seized of the matter.
Two sections of Kerala society, with the backing of varied political and non secular formations, are engaged in a pitched political and authorized battle over the practically 400-acre holding positioned alongside the coastal belt of Ernakulam district.
The Bench handed a landmark order, whereas placing down a single choose’s order, which cancelled the appointment of a former choose of the Kerala High Court because the Inquiry Commission into the Munambam concern. The Bench additionally termed the Kerala Waqf Board’s notification and registration of the Munambam land as Waqf as an act of land grabbing with a watch on the precious actual property.
A setback
The observations of the courtroom are a significant setback for the Board, which is remitted by the Waqf Act to guard and handle Waqf properties. The Board is now left with no choice however to problem the choice. The Board can both go for a assessment of the choice earlier than the Division Bench, which handed the order, or strategy the Supreme Court with a Special Leave Petition. In both case, the company should spend a lot of its vitality and sources on difficult the order, which has raised critical questions on its capabilities.
In its elaborate order unfold over 122 pages, the two-member Bench additionally gave little consideration to the judicial knowledge of the only choose, who cancelled the federal government order appointing the Inquiry Commission. The Bench might have taken a lenient view of the conclusions of the only choose within the case than terming it as “ex facie faulty and having been handed in ignorance of Mussalman Waqf Act 1923 and the Waqf Acts of 1954 and 1995, as additionally the “pronouncements of the Supreme Court every now and then.”
What has come as an actual shock is the statement of the Division Bench relating to the opportunity of even the High Court constructing or State Legislature Complex being declared as a Waqf property if the Board is allowed to proceed with its “arbitrary declaration” of Waqf properties, as within the case of Munambam.
It could also be recalled that some far-right organisations had earlier raised the spectre of some historic monuments being declared as Waqf property if the provisions of the Act weren’t struck down. The sarcastic feedback of the Bench, presumably, haven’t gone down nicely with the stakeholders. The observations, which got particular emphasis within the courtroom order, apparently lacked any authorized backing or justifications and will depart wider socio-political ramifications.
Continuing battle
As the authorized warfare over the Munambam holding assumes new proportions, the plight of the bona fide homeowners of parcels of land within the coastal village is much from over. They had been petitioning the authorities, proper from the village workplaces to the highest political workplaces within the nation, searching for justice. They have additionally mustered the help of varied socio-political organisations of their battle for his or her holdings.
However, the claims of the villagers are keenly contested by the Board and the organisations, that are decided to revive what they time period because the alienated Waqf properties within the State. The organisations which have dedicated themselves to the restoration of Waqf properties say that round 30,000 acres of properties given in Waqf have both been encroached upon or modified palms, thus defeating the very goal for which the properties had been devoted.
It might take just a few extra years and long-drawn authorized battles, even to the very best courtroom of the nation, to discover a judicial finality to the contentious concern. Endless litigation and delayed supply of justice are what seems to be on the playing cards for the Munambam residents in addition to the organisations preventing for the restoration of Waqf properties within the State.
Published – October 22, 2025 12:59 am IST
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