The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the order given by the Kerala High Court on the Munambanm land dispute, which declared that it was not Waqf property.
The HC had notified that the Waqf designation was part of a land-grabbing tactic of the Kerala Waqf board and ordered the status quo.
A bench of Justices Manoj Misra and Ujjal Bhuyan ordered that the current status of the land be maintained till the next hearing date, which will be in January 2026.
The court passed the order while hearing a plea by the Kerala Waqf Samrakshana Vedi, which was filed against the high court verdict.
The SC also said that while the HC order is stayed, the inquiry Commission headed by Justice CN Ramachandran Nair can continue to function, which was appointed to examine the rights of around 600 families who stay on the land and faced eviction, Bar and Bench reported.
The land spans 135 acres in Munambam and was originally gifted by one Siddique Sait to Farook College in 1950.
The college had sold portions of the land to residents.
The land was registered as Waqf property only in 2019, which made the earlier transactions invalid.
Residents had to protest, fearing eviction, and the case was taken to the Kozhikode Waqf tribunal, where the board’s decision was challenged.
In November 2024, the Kerala government appointed an inquiry commission led by Justice Ramachandran.
The kerala Waqf Samrakshana vedhi opposed this, saying the HC had no right ot intervnee in Waqf matters.
A single judge of the High Court agreed and quashed the commission. The decision was later overturned by a Division bench in October 2025, which went on to declare that the Kerala Waqf Board’s sudden registration of the Munambam land as waqf was ‘bad in law’ and a ‘land-grabbing technique’. They also said that the 1950 deed by the man was a gift deed, not a waqf deed.
Senior Advocate Huzefa Ahmadi, who appeared on behalf of the appellant Kerala Waqf Samrakshana Vedhi on Friday, said that the original petition by the Vedhi only challenged the inquiry commission, but that the HC went further.
Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta, representing the Kerala Government, said the petitioner had no stake in the Munambam land as it was a third party. “What my learned friend hasn’t pointed out is that it is a PIL. It is not the mutawalli who has come forward and said that it is a waqf property. He claims to be a person aggrieved,” Gupta said as reported by the indian express.
Senior Advocate V Chitambaresh, who appeared on behalf of the residents, said that poor fisherfolk who currently live on the land were not notified that their properties were suddenly registered as waqfs in 2019.
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