Central portal for Waqf properties offers facility to upload data, says Kerala board

The Kerala State Waqf Board has informed the Union Ministry for Minority Affairs that the Central portal for Waqf properties offers facilities for State boards to upload details of properties.

Dismissing the allegations that the board had illegally uploaded details of the disputed Munambam property, C.M. Manju, Chief Executive Officer in-charge of the Kerala board, pointed out in her final report that the portal had an “enabling provision and technical functionality permitting direct entry of property particulars by the board.”

A meeting of the Waqf Board on Wednesday approved the final report to be submitted to the Ministry.

The details of the controversial Munambam Waqf property were uploaded to meet the statutory requirements and no “fresh registration, modification of records, adjudication of title, or declaration of rights” were shared regarding the property. While sharing the information, the details of pending litigations, including court proceedings, were expressly noted as subject to the outcome of such proceedings, it pointed out.

Earlier, Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan, BJP State president Rajeev Chandrasekhar, a section of the Church, and residents of Munambam holding had come out against the uploading of information.

The board contended that only those particulars regarding the Waqf available in the statutory Waqf Register maintained by the board had been shared.

The Waqf of Muhammed Siddique Sait was registered with the board in 2019 after it was found that the holding was a Waqf property. The board had to register the property as a Waqf after its Mutawalli, the Farook College management committee, failed to file an application for its registration. The registration process was done after due inquiry, taking evidence and after finding that it was a Waqf property, according to the reply.

The board also recalled a government order of November 27, 2024, appointing former High Court judge C.N. Ramachandran Nair as a Commission of Inquiry to find a solution to the Munambam dispute. The government order too stated that the property at Munambam was Waqf property, claimed the board.

It also argued that its actions were with bona fide intentions and solely for ensuring compliance with the legal mandate under the UMEED Act.