Munambam residents hope that Waqf (Amendment) Bill would come to their rescue

The residents of Munambam pin their hopes of restoring the revenue rights of their holdings on Section 2 A of the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025, which frees trusts created “by a Muslim for a purpose similar to a Waqf” from the ambit of the Waqf Act.

The section exempts all trusts created by a Muslim before or after the commencement of the Amendment Bill for a purpose similar to a Waqf from the purview of the Waqf Act. The residents hope that section will come to their aid since they purchased the holdings from Farook College, which was a trust, as envisaged under the Amendment Bill.

“We understand that Section 2A of the Amendment Bill will come in favour of the Munambam residents and it will help in permanently settling the dispute”, hoped Fr. Joshy Mayyattil, a tutor at the St. Joseph’s Pontifical Seminary, Aluva.

The residents purchased the property from Farook College, which was established by a trust. Once the Waqf Amendment is passed, it will become the law of the land and the Munambam holdings will be freed from the litigations that are pending before the Waqf tribunal, Fr. Mayyattil said.

However, those associated with the Waqf Board contended that Section 2A only reinforced Section 20 of the Amendment Bill, which dropped Section 40 from the principal Act, the Waqf Act. Section 40 of the Waqf Act authorises the Waqf Board to decide on any property, which it has reasons to believe to be a Waqf property. The amendments took away the right of the Board to decide whether a property is a Waqf or not. In the case of Munambam, the Board had concluded that it was Waqf property and hence, the provisions of Section 2A would not be attracted, they argued.

Moreover, Section 2 A applies only to a trust or society or a public charity created by a Muslim and the property involved in it. In the case of Munambam, it was a Waqf created by a registered deed and Farook College was appointed by the Waqif (the one who executes the Waqf) as its Mutawalli (caretaker). Hence, Section 2 A is irrelevant when it comes to Munambam, they argued.

Meanwhile, Waqf law experts pointed out that the Munambam residents will again have to move the Kerala Waqf Tribunal to establish that Farook College, Kozhikode, from which they purchased the holdings, was a trust as defined in the Amendment Bill and hence shall be removed from the ambit of the Waqf Act. They need to establish that the property in question was purchased from a trust to claim the exemption as offered in the Amendment Bill, even in the event of the Bill getting the assent of the Parliament and its legality being upheld by a Constitutional court, he said.

The verdict of the Waqf Tribunal, which is the competent court to decide on the question of whether a property is Waqf or not, would matter in the case of Munambam, despite the tabling of the Amendment Bill, he said.

Published - April 02, 2025 07:25 pm IST