7 months ago
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In a landmark decision, the Kerala High Court has held that the disputed onshore astatine Munambam is not a Waqf spot but a acquisition presented by Mohammed Siddique Sait successful favour of Farooq College management.
A Division Bench of the tribunal consisting of Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice V.M. Syam Kumar criticised the full workout of the Kerala Waqf Board (KWB) successful the Munambam lawsuit arsenic a “sham” and noted that the committee “acted arsenic a sheer onshore grabber eyeing connected the taxable property, which had assumed precocious worth owed to commercialized developments successful the past fewer decades.”
Incidentally, the quality implicit the Munambam onshore had snowballed into a socio-political issue. It had besides attained communal undertones and threatened to destruct the communal amity successful the State.
The tribunal criticised the KWB for not acting connected the spot from 1950 to 2019 and skipping the statutory request of carrying retired a due survey and conducting quasi-judicial enquiry with the information of each funny and persons acrophobic earlier the declaration and registration of Waqf.
“If the judicial seal of support is placed connected specified an arbitrary declaration of Waqf, time immoderate random gathering oregon structure, including Taj Mahal, Red Fort, Niyama Sabha Mandiram (State Legislature Complex), oregon adjacent this Court’s gathering would beryllium susceptible of being painted with the brushwood of a Waqf spot by the Waqf committee connected the ground of immoderate random papers astatine immoderate constituent of time,” it said.
The Court is obligated to enactment nether the Constitution, particularly successful a secular state similar India and cannot licence specified a belated and fanciful workout of power, the Bench held.
The tribunal held that the “KWB acted contrary to the process and provisions of the Waqf Act, 1954, arsenic good arsenic 1995, aft an inordinate hold of astir 70 years, which itself makes the full workout unreasonable successful quality and not binding connected the State Government.”
However, the tribunal stopped abbreviated of quashing the determination of the Board.
The Bench passed the bid portion allowing the entreaty of the State authorities challenging the determination of the azygous Judge, which quashed the Kerala authorities notification appointing C. N. Ramachandran Nair Commission connected the Munambam issue.
The tribunal besides criticised the recommendations of the M.A. Nissar Commission, which was appointed by the Kerala authorities a fewer decades ago, to look into the complaints of corruption and misdeeds successful Waqf properties successful the State. Incidentally, the KWB had initiated the proceedings successful the Munambam lawsuit aft the recommendations of the M.A. Nissar Commission.
The Nissar committee “clearly transgressed its Terms of Reference. The findings of the committee cannot person immoderate binding value; they were without immoderate survey oregon immoderate quasi-judicial inquiry. The resultant enactment carried retired by KWB of declaring taxable spot (Munambam) arsenic Waqf spot is besides a wholly unilateral, 1 without being preceded by immoderate survey, tract survey oregon due quasi-judicial enquiry astir the existent presumption of the property,” the tribunal held.
