Kerala Waqf Board defends uploading of Munambam property details on UMEED portal

The Kerala State Waqf Board has defended the uploading of information on the Munambam holdings to the portal of the Union Minority for Minority Affairs by maintaining that it is legally bound to upload the details of all the registered Waqf properties. The Board argued that it decided to directly upload the details of all the registered Waqf properties, which were not uploaded by the concerned Mutawallis, as it was the statutory authority responsible for the supervision and protection of Waqf properties.

The Board justified its controversial act in its preliminary reply to the Ministry, which had sought an explanation regarding the Munambam holdings. According to the Board, several Mutawallis had failed to comply with the provisions of the Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency, and Development (UMEED) Act, which specified that the details of all registered Waqf shall be entered in the portal within a prescribed time. The Board uploaded the details of 400 such registered waqf properties across the State in compliance with the Act. It maintained that only information relating to already registered Waqf was uploaded and no new fresh registrations were made.

The Board further argued that all registered Waqf properties are deemed to be Waqf properties and that it is legally obligated to ensure that their details are reflected in the portal. It emphasised that uploading of the information does not amount to adjudication of title or determination of disputed rights. Such matters, it said, would be decided by the competent courts or authorities.

Political controversy

The uploading of the data in the portal had set off a political controversy in the State, with the Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan alleging that the Board, which was reconstituted during the fag end of the tenure of the previous LDF government, uploaded the information to complicate the issue for his government.

Mr. Satheesan had earlier stated, while serving as the Leader of Opposition, that he could resolve the Munambam dispute in 10 minutes if voted to power. While the Catholic Church had vehemently opposed the uploading of data, the Board chairperson K.S. Hamsa had justified the act.

A section of the residents, fearing that the publication of the information could adversely affect their interests, demanded the dissolution of the Board. The BJP State president, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, had written to the Ministry seeking to remove the data from the portal.

The managing committee of the Farook College, the Muttawalli of the Munambam holding, refused to upload the information as they stuck to their position that the property was not Waqf. However, they claimed to have shared the information on Waqf properties under their control.

The Board reiterated that uploading the details “was not a process of fresh registration or creation of any new rights” but merely “an exercise of entering the details of already registered Waqf properties available in the records of the Board, in compliance with the statutory requirements under the UMEED Act.”