Kerala government looks at solutions as Waqf land claim row continues

The Kerala police used water cannons on Tuesday against BJP workers who were on a protest march towards the Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram. The march was to demand the LDF government take swift action against the land claims made by the Waqf Board in several places across the state.
The protest march took place a day after the Indian Union Muslim League leaders met with Christian priests to find a permanent resolution to the Waqf Board-related land disputes.
The matter of Waqf Board sending encroachment notices to people across the state became a talking point in the state after the Kerala State Assembly, last month, unanimously passed a resolution against the Centre’s Waqf Amendment bill.
Criticising the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF), the Church in Kerala again raised the Munambam Waqf land dispute.
Other cases of Waqf Board claiming land in Kerala also came to light after Kiren Rijiju shared on X the plight of, not just the 600 families living in Munambam, near Kochi, but also in northern Kerala.
Rijiju’s post also pointed out that a piece of land in Kannur district’s Taliparamba in northern Kerala was also claimed by the Waqf board.
During the past year, many families in Taliparamba received notices from the Waqf board. A majority of them are from the Muslim community.
According to AP Assi, one of the many who received such a notice, claimed around 300 people got these kinds of notices in the last one year.
Assi furnished all documents going back 60 years and said none of the documentation mentioned Waqf. Many of them already responded to the Waqf Board through their lawyers.
On November 12, news of the Waqf Board issuing legal notices to five families in Thavinjal area of Mananthavady in Wayanad district, accusing them of encroachment on 4.7 acres of board-owned land.
The board has asked them to provide details of the property based on a complaint filed. The board has asked to submit their written version along with supporting documents, if any, regarding the matter on or before November 16.
All of these families were reportedly paying property taxes, but were asked by the Kerala Waqf Board to attend an online hearing via ‘Zoom Cloud Meeting’ on November 19.
The families reportedly approached Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to find a solution to this latest development.
The Waqf Board also issued notices to 37 families at Chavakkad in Thrissur district on the same day. This notice was regarding reclaiming 10 acres of land in Chavakkad, Guruvayur, and Orumanayur taluks. These families, living on land spread across six ‘survey numbers’, faced eviction threats from the Waqf even though most of them possessed valid title deeds.
Many other residents awaited their land documents for various purposes but the revenue department refused based on the claim by the Waqf Board staked claim on the land.
The affected families, who claimed they were living on the alleged properties for over 50 years, made it clear they will not give up their homes.
Opposing provisions of the current Waqf act, the Catholic Church in Kerala backed the Centre’s amendment bill, as a majority of the affected families in the Munambam land dispute were Christians.
Munambam villages in Ernakulam district have been unlawfully claimed by the Waqf Board.
The BJP in the state leveraged this to corner the LDF government, as well as challenge UDF by becoming the advocate for the affected families.
The Munambam protesters even met Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to petition his government regarding their problem.
As local body by-elections are scheduled for next month, the Kerala government will hold a high-level meeting on November 22 to discuss the matter. Convened by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, this would be the first formal intervention by the state to address this issue.
Incidentally, the Waqf Tribunal will also hear the Munambam Waqf land issue on the same day.
Meanwhile, sources in the government said there could be a land survey to determine all the claims and responses, to pacify all parties involved.