Waqf Board may demand comprehensive digital land survey in Munambam

It may raise the demand at the November 22 meeting convened by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in Thiruvananthapuram to sort out the issue which has gathered communal overtones

The Kerala State Waqf Board is likely to seek a comprehensive digital land survey in Munambam to identify the landowners and encroachers of the reported Waqf property.

The board may raise the demand at the November 22 meeting convened by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in Thiruvananthapuram to sort out the issue which has gathered communal overtones.

It would highlight the digital survey being undertaken by the Revenue department across the State, which covers 200 villages every month. The survey in Munambam may take only a few days to complete, as only two divisions in the village need to be covered. The data generated during the survey would serve as the base document for addressing the land issue, it would argue.

The board would point out that there could also be encroachers without title deeds besides the residents, who had purchased the holdings in the coastal village. A large number of houses, places of worship and commercial establishments have come up in the area over the years.

No data on the commercial and residential buildings in the village and the nature of their ownership are available to the board. The data could be generated by the local body concerned, according to sources.

Farook College, Kozhikode, has challenged before the Waqf Tribunal the board’s decisions enlisting the land as a Waqf property and later registering it. The board had registered the property as ‘Muhammad Siddique Waqf’ on September 25, 2019 and forwarded the Certificate of Registration to the secretary of the Farook College managing committee.

In its appeal before the tribunal, the college authorities had argued that the registration of the property was against the law and offended the principles of natural justice and fair play. The board erred in registering the property in dispute without giving an opportunity for the purchasers of the portions of the property, who were also the affected parties. The registration was against the provisions of the Waqf Act, it had contended before the tribunal

Repeated attempts to elicit the views of the college managing committee failed as its office-bearers did not respond to phone calls and messages.

Published - November 19, 2024 07:02 pm IST