The Kerala High Court on Tuesday, November 12, quashed a criminal case against two employees of Kozhikode’s Marikkunnu post office by the Waqf Board, alleging unauthorised land possession. Dismissing the case, which was originally filed before the Kozhikode First Class Judicial Magistrate, Justice PV Kunhikrishnan noted that the Waqf Act does not have a retrospective effect. It was in 2013, that an amendment in the Waqf law made the possession of Waqf land an offence.  

The two post office employees, Senior Superintendent K Sukumaran and Sub Post Master K Prema approached the High Court after a case was registered against them in 2017 in a lower court in Kozhikode alleging that they possessed Waqf land. “The Department of Posts were in possession of the property prior to the insertion of Section 52A of the Waqf Act. The Post Office was functioning from 1999 onwards. Hence I am of the considered opinion that the prosecution against the petitioners is unsustainable,” Justice Kunhikrishnan said.

The Marikkunnu post office operated in a rented building owned by a JDT Islam Orphanage Committee since September 1999. In 2005, it was moved to a new building owned by the same Committee, after they decided to construct a shopping complex on the land. But after 2014, the Committee stopped accepting rent and demanded that the post office be vacated from the new building since the land belonged to the Waqf Board. Following this, the Board approached the Magistrate Court in 2017, requesting action against the post office employees for unauthorised possession. 

The Waqf Board alleged that the post office employees did not obtain sanction, committing the offence under the newly inserted Section 52A of the Waqf Act, which provides for the imprisonment of any person who alienates, purchases, or takes possession of Waqf property without the Board's sanction. 

Meanwhile, the Orphanage Committee also approached the Waqf Tribunal in Kozhikode, seeking a declaration to hand over vacant possession of the land. Following this, the Tribunal passed an order directing the Department of Posts to vacate the property within 45 days. Thereafter, the Department of Posts issued a notice inviting tenders from building owners for the building to be leased. However, no offers were received in reply. 

The HC’s dismissal of criminal proceedings against Merikunnu post office employees comes at a time when Kerala is witnessing an ongoing Waqf land dispute in Munambam, a coastal belt in Ernakulam. Since 2022, Munambam residents have been facing legal restrictions to pay taxes on the properties owned by them, since these lands are alleged to belong to the Waqf, leading to several protests to regain land rights. Some families in two other districts– Wayanad and Thrissur– have also received a notice from the Waqf Board claiming encroachment, post the 2013 amendment to the Waqf Act.

This particular HC order may now be a crucial legal deterrent for the Waqf to abstain from filing more criminal cases against people residing in alleged Waqf lands.