Kerala High Court Today (April 7) stayed an order that cancelled the Justice CN Ramachandran Nair Commission probing eviction of 600 families. The dispute involves land in Munambam recently declared waqf property.
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KOCHI: The Kerala High Court today stopped the earlier order given by a single judge that had cancelled the Kerala government’s appointment of a commission.
This commission, led by retired High Court judge Justice CN Ramachandran Nair, was made to study the rights of about 600 families who may lose their homes after land in Munambam was declared waqf property.
A Division Bench, made up of Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice S Manu, passed this stay order after the Kerala government filed an appeal against the earlier judgment that was given on March 17.
“The appeals are admitted. List the appeals for hearing on daily board from June 16, 2025. During the pendency of these appeals, the operation and implementation of the judgment dated March 17, 2025 is stayed. The report submitted submitted by the Commission will not be acted upon by the State government without seeking leave of this court in view of these appeals,”
-the Court clearly said in its official order.
The problem is about land in Munambam. This land was originally 404.76 acres but is now only about 135.11 acres because sea erosion has eaten up a big part of it.
Back in 1950, one Siddique Sait had donated this land to Farook College. But many people were already living on this land even before that. They kept staying there, and later it became a legal fight between the college and the people who had been living there for a long time.
Later on, the college sold parts of this land to the people living there. But these sales didn’t mention that the land was waqf property, which means land meant for religious or charitable purpose under Islamic law.
In 2019, the Kerala Waqf Board officially registered this land as waqf land. Because of this, the old land sale agreements became invalid. This led to many residents protesting, as they were now facing possible eviction from their homes.
An appeal was filed in the Waqf Tribunal in Kozhikode against the Waqf Board’s decision to declare the Munambam land as waqf property.
Because of the protests from nearly 600 affected families, the Kerala government in November 2024 appointed an inquiry commission, headed by Justice CN Ramachandran Nair, to look into the matter and suggest solutions.
But this move by the government was challenged in the High Court by members of the Waqf Samrakshana Samithi. They said the government had no legal power to investigate waqf property matters, which are already under the Waqf Act.
On March 17, Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas gave a judgment cancelling the government’s order to appoint the commission. He said the commission had no legal right to interfere in matters which are already being dealt with under the Waqf Act, 1995.
The Kerala government then filed an appeal against this judgment. In its appeal, the government said that the people who filed the case had no legal standing (locus standi) and also that the single judge had not properly understood the legal and factual aspects of the case.
The petitioners in the case were represented by advocates TU Ziyad, P Chandrasekhar, and Anoop Krishna.
Kerala Advocate General K Gopalakrishna Kurup represented the State in court.
Jamshed Hafiz, the standing counsel for the Kerala State Waqf Board, also appeared in the case.
Senior counsel George Poonthottam, who was instructed by advocate Nisha George, appeared on behalf of one of the residents involved in the case.
CASE TITLE:
State of Kerala v. Kerala Waqf Samrakshana Vedhi.
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