The Kerala High Court has stayed the Ernakulam district collector’s order granting revenue rights to residents of the disputed land and has prima facie held the action to be contempt of court.
Justice C. Jayachandran passed the order while suspending the directive issued by District Collector G. Priyanka on December 2. The order had permitted not only the collection of property tax from residents of the disputed area but also the issuance of key revenue documents such as access certificates, possession certificates, location sketches and Records of Rights (ROR). The matter will be taken up again on January 14.
Earlier, on November 26, the High Court had granted limited permission to collect property tax alone from residents in the disputed land in Kuzhuppilly and Pallippuram villages, following a Division Bench ruling that the Munambam land is not waqf property. However, the court had not authorised the granting of any additional revenue rights.
Subsequently, village officers informed the collector that applications were being received for various revenue certificates along with property tax payments. Citing these communications, along with the November 26 court order, the collector instructed the Bhurekha Tahsildar and the village officers concerned to grant the additional revenue rights on a conditional basis, subject to the final outcome of cases pending before the High Court and the Supreme Court.
Challenging the move, the Kerala Waqf Protection Forum approached the High Court, arguing that the collector had exceeded the scope of the court’s earlier order. Accepting this contention at the preliminary stage, the court observed that the collector’s directive appeared to violate its order and therefore amounted to contempt of court.
The stay order brings temporary relief to the petitioners and adds a new twist to the contentious Munambam land issue, with the court set to examine the matter in detail at the next hearing.
