Relief in Munambam issue

A major issue that had kept about 600 families in limbo for years has been resolved with the High Court's verdict that declaring the Munambam land as a waqf was legally wrong and unenforceable. This is the property that a person named Muhammad Siddique Sait handed over to the management of Farook College, Kozhikode in 1950 under a gift deed. The division bench comprising Justice Sushrut Aravind Dharmadhikari and Justice VM Shyamkumar ruled in the appeal that the deed of the property given as a gift cannot be considered a waqf. The division bench also set aside the single bench order that had quashed the government's appointment of Justice CN Ramachandran Nair as the Munambam Commission.

The High Court also observed that if the Munambam land was declared as a waqf, then the Taj Mahal, the Red Fort and the High Court building could be declared as waqf in the future on the basis of old documents. The High Court also clarified that such a belated and strange exercise of power cannot be allowed in a secular country like India. There were 404 acres of land when it was handed over to the management of Farook College in Kozhikode in the 1950s. The Farook College authorities were unable to maintain this land while staying in Kozhikode and lost more than half of the land due to sea level rise, so they divided it up and sold it to many people for building houses and other purposes.

The people who are currently living in Munambam bought the land by paying a price. Their younger generation is now living there. About six hundred families who were living here were under threat of eviction since the Paravur court's verdict that the Munambam land is a waqf property. The land could not be transferred under any circumstances due to ongoing cases. They had been protesting on the basis that evicting them from the land they have been living on for years would not be acceptable under any law. Although all political parties and the government intervened in the issue, it could not be resolved due to the legal battle going on in the courts. The High Court's verdict that the land given as a gift cannot be considered a waqf has resolved the issue that had been simmering for a long time and had caused many controversies.

The High Court has given this important verdict by allowing the government's appeal against the single bench order that the commission appointed by the government to submit proposals for resolving the Munambam dispute cannot continue. The High Court has also unequivocally stated that the government is not obliged to implement a Waqf Board order issued 69 years after the original land transaction took place. However, the court has not quashed the board's order. It is hoped that the Waqf Board and other parties involved in the case will have the wisdom to not take further legal action in this regard.