Relief for the government in the Munambam Waqf land issue: The High Court has ruled that the Munambam Judicial Commission can continue its functioning. The court stayed the single bench verdict that had annulled the appointment of the Judicial Commission. The order was passed by a division bench comprising Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice S. Manu.
The High Court’s ruling came on a petition filed by the government challenging the single bench order that annulled the appointment of the Judicial Commission, based on a plea submitted earlier by the Waqf Protection Forum. The government argued that the petitioners were neither parties related to the land nor beneficiaries entitled to relief in the case, and therefore, the petition itself was not maintainable. The government also clarified that without the court’s direction, the commission’s report would neither be published nor would any further action be taken.
The Waqf Protection Forum, which filed the original petition, had argued that in the case of disputes related to Waqf property, the Waqf Board is the authority to take decisions. The issue is currently under the consideration of the Waqf Tribunal. Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas, in the single bench order, had observed that the appointment order was issued without considering relevant facts, and thus it should be quashed. The single bench had ruled that the government’s decision to appoint the Judicial Commission would not stand. Justice C.N. Ramachandran Nair, a retired High Court judge who was appointed as the inquiry commission, had voluntarily suspended the functioning of the commission.
