The Kerala High Court, in a stern judgment on Friday (October 10) in the Munambam Waqf land dispute, warned that it would not be right to give judicial approval to declare property arbitrarily as Waqf. Justice S.A. Dharmadhikari and Justice Shyam Kumar V.M. The Division Bench of the Supreme Court held that if judicial approval is given to such arbitrarily declared Waqf buildings, then any building can be declared as Waqf property, be it the Taj Mahal, the Red Fort, the Legislative Assembly building or even the Court’s own building.
The court said, “If judicial sanction is imposed on such arbitrary waqf declaration, then tomorrow any random building or structure – Taj Mahal, Red Fort, Assembly building or even this court building – can be declared as waqf property by the Waqf Board on the basis of any random document.”
The court also added that allowing the Waqf Board to function arbitrarily would be a threat to the right to property (Section 300A), right to conduct business (Section 19) and right to life and livelihood (Section 21) guaranteed by the Constitution.
The court said this big thing
The Court in its judgment said, “In a secular country like India, a court functioning under the Constitution cannot allow the exercise of such deferred and imaginary powers. Accepting the existence of such an uncoordinated power with the Waqf Board would jeopardize the right to property (Section 300A) guaranteed by the Constitution to every citizen. It would also violate the freedom to trade and the right to life, livelihood (Sections 19 and 21) by arbitrarily confiscating property by the Waqf Board.” “May affect declaration/registration.”
This was the claim of the petitioners
The petitioners claimed that the matter fell within the jurisdiction of the Waqf Tribunal and not the court, but the High Court clarified that it was competent to examine whether the process of declaring the Waqf – survey, hearing and investigation – was done fairly and properly. The court said, “The process of declaring a property as Waqf directly affects the fundamental rights of the citizens. Therefore, the court can monitor it.”
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