Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
Kochi, Nov 26 (IANS) In a major relief to Munambam residents locked in a long-running land dispute with the Kerala Waqf Board, the Kerala High Court on Wednesday allowed them to waive land tax for their properties.
As soon as the decision came, residents started paying their land tax at the revenue office.
The court also directed the revenue authorities to accept the tax without any hindrance.
Justice C. Jayachandran had issued the interim order considering several petitions, including those filed by the Land Conservation Committee and several affected residents.
The petitioners argued that although they were living on the land for decades with valid gift deed and sale deed, the village office had refused to accept the land tax citing objections raised by the Waqf Board.
He said the land originally gifted to Farooq College was never recorded as Waqf property, and over the years, the college management legally sold pieces of land to the families currently living there.
Many residents had also built houses after obtaining building permits from local authorities.
“The petitioners have full ownership over their properties and have continuously paid tax on the basis of earlier sale deeds. Yet, the village officer is refusing to accept the tax citing the claim of the Waqf Board that the officer cannot refuse basic procedures like tax remittance, mutation, transfer or mortgage,” the petition said.
Accepting the arguments, the Court granted interim relief, allowing landowners to continue paying tax until the ownership issue was completely resolved.
The Munambam land dispute pertains to a 404.76-acre coastal property gifted to Farooq College by Mohammad Siddiqui Sait in 1950. Due to sea erosion the land has now reduced to about 135.11 acres.
Although several families were already settled there and later purchased land from the college, the 2019 registration of the entire property as waqf land by the Kerala Waqf Board rendered the earlier transactions void, triggering public protests and legal action.
The state government later appointed a commission led by former judge CN Ramachandran Nair to suggest remedies, but its constitution was invalidated by a single judge in March 2025. A division bench later reinstated it in October 2025.
–IANS
SG/UK