Waqf Tribunal to consider Munambam case on November 22

The Munambam Waqf land issue will come up before the Waqf Tribunal on November 22, the day on which the Chief Minister has scheduled a high-level meeting to discuss the issue.

The Tribunal headed by Rajan Thattil, a district judge, will consider the appeals filed by Farook College, Kozhikode, the beneficiary of the reported Waqf deed, against the decision of the Kerala State Waqf Board to enlist the Munambam land as a Waqf property, on the day.

The Managing Committee of the College, the Mutawalli (the trustee of a Waqf), has also challenged the registration of the Munambam land as a Waqf property in a separate petition before the tribunal in 2023. The two petitions are likely to be considered by the tribunal simultaneously.

The meeting convened by the Chief Minister is the first formal intervention of the State government to address the issue that has caught national attention. State Ministers, senior bureaucrats, and representatives of the Board will attend the meeting, which will be held in Thiruvananthapuram on November 22 at 3 p.m.

The board, while asserting before the tribunal that the holding is a Waqf property, would ask for more time to produce additional documents in the case. It would contend that the Waqf property was alienated without its prior approval and some parcels of the Munambam land were encroached upon by third parties.

The board registered the Munambam land as ‘Muhammad Siddique Sait Waqf’ on September 25, 2019, after it concluded that the property was alienated without its prior permission. The children of the Waqif Mohammed Siddeeq Sait had also approached the board to repossess the Waqf property, the board would argue.

The college management will stick to its stand that the Munambam property was not a Waqf but a gift deed made to it by Siddique Sait. The college would assert that it had the absolute right to enjoy the property and transact it, sources said.

Meanwhile, Indian Union Muslim League leaders held discussions with the Latin Catholic Church and Munambam Land Protection committee in Kochi on Monday to amicably settle the issue as the dispute had attained communal colours.

Published - November 18, 2024 07:57 pm IST