A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Friday (November 1) adjourned to November 11 hearing on a writ petition challenging the constitutional validity of some sections of the Waqf Act.

The petition was filed by Joseph Benny and seven others from Munambam who had purchased land from the managing committee of Farook College, Kozhikode. They alleged that steps were being taken by Waqf Board to evict the petitioners and 600 other families from the land saying that the land was a Waqf property.

Revenue department officials had refused to mutate the land documents on the request of the Chief Executive Officer of the Waqf Board.

According to the petitioners,section 14of the Act, which gives the Waqf Board power to declare as its own any property belonging to any trust or society, was unconstitutional. The section went against the principle of natural justice and fair play. It could not be conferred with the jurisdiction to decide on the question of title of a land possessed by persons of non-islamic religion. Besides, it was highly derogatory that the collector/district magistrate is required to implement the order of Waqf Board as per the provisions of the Act. The persons in possession of the property declared by the Board as Waqf property is deemed as encroachers under the Act and the CEO was given power to take steps to dispossess and harass a lawful owner from his property in violation of section 300A of the Constitution. In fact, every disputes of civil nature has to be decided by civil courts. As Waqf comes within the ambit of personal law of Muslims, the State cannot make any law giving special status and right to a particular religious community, the petitioners contended.