Overview

• Division Bench Justices S.A. Dharmadhikari and V.M. Syam Kumar allowed the state’s appeals, reversing a single‑judge order that had quashed the November 2024 inquiry commission.
• The court found the 1950 deed to Farook College was a charitable gift that permitted sale and even reversion, failing the required standard of permanent dedication for a waqf.
• The Kerala Waqf Board’s 2019 declaration was labelled “bad in law” and a “land‑grabbing tactic,” though the bench declined to formally quash the Board’s orders.
• The commission headed by retired Justice C.N. Ramachandran Nair can continue its probe and suggest remedies for bona fide occupants and third‑party purchasers.
• The bench questioned the locus of petitioners opposing the commission, noting years of inaction as hundreds of residents struggle with frozen revenue rights over a long‑inhabited coastal tract.