Munambam land row: Govt notifies terms of reference of judicial commission

Thiruvananthapuram: The Home Department on Thursday issued a gazette notification appointing a Commission of Inquiry by C N Ramachandran Nair ( Retired Judge of High Court) to resolve the dispute over ownership of land between the residents and the Wakf Board in Munambam. As per the notification, the commission has been constituted for the purpose of making an inquiry into a definite matter of public importance, namely, to recommend measures to be taken by the Government to find a permanent solution with respect to the ownership in the matter of ongoing dispute for right of ownership between the citizens residing in Munambam at Ernakulam District and the Waqf Board.

The Government has fixed the terms of reference of the Commission of Inquiry. The Commission shall identify the present nature and extent of the property comprised in old survey number 18/1 of the then Vadakkekara Village of the erstwhile Travancore State. It will also enquire and report as to how to protect the rights and interests of the bonafide occupants of the land and to recommend the measures to be taken by the government in that regard.

The Commission shall complete the inquiry and submit its report to the government within three months. The decision to appoint a judicial commission was made in a meeting convened by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan last week. Following the meeting, Minister for Law P Rajeev said that no residents will be evicted from the land and that a decision was made in the meeting to direct the Wakf board not to initiate any steps towards eviction of residents from Munambam. 

The Munambam Wakf land issue
The dispute began in 2019 when the Wakf Board claimed ownership over land allegedly donated to Farook College in Kozhikode by Siddique Sait in 1950. The residents, who bought the land before the Wakf Act was introduced in 1954, claim that they legally purchased it from the college management and that it was not classified as Wakf property then.

By 2022, these families could not pay land taxes at the village office, but a temporary intervention by the state government allowed them to proceed. However, the Wakf Samrakshana Samathi (Wakf Protection Forum) contested this decision, resulting in a court order that paused tax payments. The residents petitioned the high court, seeking intervention in declaring certain sections of the Wakf Act unconstitutional. The ongoing legal proceedings have heightened tensions in the predominantly Christian community.